Ellen Stutzman Remains WGA West Executive Director As Union Reveals Board Election Results
A year to the day after the Writers Guild strike settlement, Ellen Stutzman has been ratified as Executive Director of WGA West in a referendum. The vote was 2,279 “yes” to 72 “no.”
The union also revealed results of its 2024 Board of Directors elections, with eight members being named to two-year terms. They are incumbents Raphael Bob-Waksberg, Deric A. Hughes, Justin Halpern, John Rogers and Travis Donnelly and new electees Melinda Hsu, Chris Hazzard, and Danny Tolli. They beat out 10 other finalists for board seats.
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Having served as WGAW’s chief negotiator during its 148-day strike against the AMPTP, Stutzman was promoted to Executive Director after David Young announced his resignation in November. She was part of numerous MBA negotiations before heading up the WGAW negotiating committee last year.
Stutzman began her WGAW tenure as a researcher in January 2006 and rose to become the Research & Public Policy Director. She was promoted to Assistant Executive Director in 2018, with oversight over the Agency, Contracts, Legal, and Research & Public Policy departments, and has served as a trustee on the Pension and Health Funds since that year.
“Ellen is a steady, calm force to be reckoned with, as we all witnessed these past five months as she led us to victory in the 2023 strike,” WGAW President Meredith Stiehm said when Stutzman took over as exec director. “She is beloved by staff and members, and I have every confidence in her as she steps into this role. Writers could not be in better hands.”
In a joint Q&A with Stiehm for Deadline days after the WGA strike settlement, Stutzman said: “This is the deal writers needed to get. I think what we’ve seen over the almost five-month period is that writers are more than willing to stay out and hold out to get what they needed.”
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