Kim Roberts Hedgpeth to step down as co-director of SAG-AFTRA
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Kim Roberts Hedgpeth, the longtime leader of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, is stepping down as a co-national executive director of the newly merged union, SAG-AFTRA.
‘It was with great pride and enormous satisfaction that I joined union members, colleagues and staff on March 30 to celebrate the overwhelming vote in favor of AFTRA and SAG,’’ Hedgpeth said. ‘Having achieved this important goal, for which many of us worked so tirelessly for so many years, now is the right moment to begin a new chapter in life.’
Hedgpeth, who will leave her post April 30, has served as AFTRA’s national executive director since 2005. But her future was cast into question once AFTRA and SAG members voted on March 30 to merge their organizations.
Board members from both unions had named Hedgpeth and SAG Executive Director David White as co-national executive directors, but it was widely expected that White would eventually head the combined group after a transition period.
During her tenure at AFTRA, Hedgpeth served as chief negotiator for many of AFTRA’s national contracts covering actors, broadcast journalists, recording artists, among others, and was widely praised for her contributions to the union.
‘Kim is in a league of her own,’’ said Roberta Reardon, co-national president of SAG-AFTRA. ‘Through her remarkable negotiating skills at the bargaining table, her superb administration of the union and her principle attentiveness to the needs of members, Kim has improved the careers and lives of thousands of union members around the nation.’
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— Richard Verrier
