Monday, Neil Portnow was named president of the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, the body that runs the Grammy Awards.

“Neil’s success as an executive, with his contacts and familiarity not only with key industry leaders but with our organization, gave him an advantage,” Garth Fundis, chairman of the board of the Recording Academy, said.

“It’s all a bit of a whirlwind right now,” said the Manhattan-born Portnow. “It’s an incredible honor and privilege to work with and serve the great folks at the Academy and its membership.”

Portnow is taking the presidency five months after Mike Greene resigned amid charges of sexual harassment. (He was later cleared in an Academy investigation.) During his tenure, Greene feuded with former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. As a result, the awards show is only now returning to New York after an absence of four years.

During the 13 years that he served as president, Greene took the organization to new heights of prosperity but controversy brought his reign to an end. Given this debacle, character may have played a role in the board’s decision. Portnow is in his third term as president of the entertainment chapter of City of Hope, an L.A.-based cancer-research center.

“I think Neil will bring his integrity as a person,” said Fundis. “When you’re looking at candidates, you look at the complete person. The regard that people in the industry have for Neil gave us assurances as to how he as a candidate would be perceived in the industry (and that he would) give us the stature that we were looking for in a candidate.”

Portnow, a 25-year music-business veteran, is senior vice president of West Coast operations for the Zomba Group, which owns Jive Records. Jive is a label that, almost single-handed, ushered in the teen-pop phenomenon of the late ’90s.