SCREEN ACTORS GUILD NAMES RAY RODRIGUEZ AS DEPUTY NATIONAL EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF CONTRACTS

Los Angeles (February 16, 2007)— Screen Actors Guild National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator Doug Allen announced today that Ray W. Rodriguez has accepted the position of Deputy National Executive Director of Contracts, effective February 19, 2007. Rodriguez has been SAG’s deputy general counsel since March of 2004. In his new position, Rodriguez will report directly to Allen and will oversee the Guild’s contract departments, which includes the responsibility for negotiation and enforcement of all collective bargaining agreements. Rodriguez will assist Allen with all contract negotiations.

Rodriguez came to the Guild with experience as a labor and employment lawyer for two prominent West Coast law firms and has also served as a law clerk to the Honorable Vaughn R. Walker of the Northern District of California. He is a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College and holds a law degree from the Columbia University School of Law, where he was an executive editor of the Columbia Law Review. Rodriguez hails originally from Brooklyn, New York, but lived and worked in California between 1998 and 2003, and will shortly relocate to Los Angeles for his new position.

SAG executive Tom La Grua, who has held the interim contract post since Sallie Weaver’s departure last year, will serve in the newly created position of Contracts Executive Director, the number two position among contracts staff, reporting to Rodriguez. La Grua will continue to help formulate bargaining strategy and will work closely with Rodriguez to help manage contract department staff. Veteran actor and former SAG board member La Grua joined the Guild staff in 2002.

“I am pleased that Ray Rodriguez has agreed to accept this critical Guild leadership responsibility and relocate to Los Angeles,” Allen stated. “He will be an invaluable partner with me in negotiations. Ray and Tom La Grua will be a strong team to manage our contracts staff. Each brings exceptional expertise, and together they will help us to achieve and enforce better bargaining agreements for all Screen Actors Guild members.”