In 1997, the Recording Academy under Michael Greene launched "The Latin Recording Academy", which produces the Latin Grammy Awards. Neil Portnow later served as president and CEO of the academy from 2002 to 2019. Deborah Dugan was his replacement, taking over on August 1, 2019. and is the first woman to lead the organization. Dugan was removed from her position on January 16, 2020 after organizational claims of misconduct against her assistant, though she claimed she was ousted while experiencing conflicts in trying to reform the organization and other matters were revealed to her, including a sexual assault claim from an artist against Portnow. Harvey Mason Jr. currently holds interim president/CEO duties for the organization.