Producers Guild Promotes Susan Sprung to National Executive Director and COO

New role includes diversity and green production initiatives and combatting sexual harassment

Susan Sprung_Headshot
PGA

The Producers Guild of America (PGA) is promoting Susan Sprung to the roles of national executive director and chief operating officer, the guild announced Thursday.

Sprung and executive director/COO Vance Van Petten will co-lead the expansion of the guild’s major initiatives, including its diversity and green production initiatives, Producers Mark, the PGA Awards, and the bi-annual Produced By Conference. She’ll also co-lead the Foundation’s Independent Production Safety Initiative, which received a grant from CBS last fall to combat sexual harassment on independent film, television, and digital productions.

Sprung has served as associate national executive director for the PGA since 2012 and has been COO since 2016.

Previously, Sprung served as Special Counsel at the law firm of O’Melveny and Myers in Los Angeles. Prior to that, she was Corporate Counsel at Trizec Hahn in Los Angeles and an associate at Barrett Smith Shapiro Simon and Armstrong in New York.

Sprung is also a commissioner on the Anita Hill Commission on Sexual Harassment and Advancing Equality in the Workplace. Additionally, she sits on the California Film & Television Production Alliance and is a member of the Western Council of the Actors Fund.

“Joining Vance as the National Executive Director and COO of the PGA is a tremendous honor for me,” Sprung said in a statement. “This is a period of growth for the PGA as our industry confronts dramatic changes and welcomes exciting opportunities. I look forward to supporting our members and our organization in my new role.”

“Susan is a brilliant, strategic and dynamic leader in the entertainment industry, and we are very fortunate to have her at the PGA,” PGA presidents Lucy Fisher and Gail Berman said in a statement. “We are incredibly lucky to have two executive directors who have a clear vision for moving the organization forward during a time of incredible growth at the PGA.”

“Susan has been an incredible force at the PGA, contributing tirelessly to the positive growth and expansion of our Guild,” Van Petten said in a statement. “She has been the driving force behind the Guild’s groundbreaking Independent Production Safety Initiative that will bring anti-sexual harassment practices to productions across the country. I am excited to have her join me in further advancing the work of the Guild as we continue to look to the future.”

Sprung chaired the Board of Directors of the I Have a Dream Foundation-LA for five years. She is a magna cum laude graduate of the State University of New York at Albany and from Boston University School of Law.

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