Recording Academy President to Step Down Next Year Neil Portnow will step down from his role as president, a title he has held since 2002. Portnow will work until the end of his
current contract, which ends in 2019. The Recording Academy and Portnow recently came under fire for the lack of female representation at the 2018 Grammys, which saw only 17 women win awards (out of a possible 86). Only one of them, Alessia Cara, accepted an award during the television broadcast. When confronted about the lack of women winners, Portnow told ‘Variety’ that women need to “step up” before retracting his comments.