Joanne Koch will resign in June after 32 years as chief operating and financial officer of the Film Society of Lincoln Center.
The announcement was made Friday night at Avery Fisher Hall at the opening ceremonies of the organization's 40th New York Film Festival.
During her tenure, Koch managed the NYFF and also was instrumental in launching the New Directors/New Films Festival in 1972. She will continue to serve on that festival's selection committee through April.
Koch also has been the publisher of the bimonthly magazine Film Comment since she initiated its acquisition by the Film Society in 1974 and has co-produced 19 of the Film Society's Gala Tributes, which annually honor a major film artist.
Claudia Bonn will succeed Koch, with the title of executive director, in June. Bonn came to the Film Society in 1993 as director of development and was named director of administration and development in 1999. Bonn has been responsible for all aspects of fund raising, and, in 1999, she supervised the Film Society's Campaign for the New Millennium, which produced a $5 million reserve fund.
After Koch steps down, Marian Masone will assume a significant portion of her role as administrator of the New York Film Festival and New Directors/New Films. She is currently associate director of programming and has been with the Film Society since 1984.
In a statement released before her appearance at the NYFF's opening night, Koch said, "I am pleased to be turning over the management of the Film Society at a time when it is thriving as never before and am delighted that the organization will be in such highly capable and experienced hands."
Alexander Payne's "About Schmidt" and Pedro Almodovar's "Talk to Her" bookend the NYFF this year. "Schmidt" screened Friday, and "Talk" will close the fest Oct. 13.