AFTRA National Executive Director Kim Roberts Hedgpeth

Hedgpeth Named to 2010 Economic Advisory Council of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco

LOS ANGELES (Jan. 4, 2010) — The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, AFL-CIO, announced today that AFTRA National Executive Director Kim Roberts Hedgpeth has been named to the 2010 Twelfth District Economic Advisory Council of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.

Hedgpeth has served as the National Executive Director of AFTRA since 2005 and is the first African-American woman to serve as the chief executive staff person of a national entertainment industry union.
From 1981 to 1987, Hedgpeth held a variety of positions with AFTRA’s New York Local, eventually becoming Local Executive Co-Director. In 1987, she was recruited to fill the position of Executive Director for AFTRA’s San Francisco Local and the Screen Actors Guild’s San Francisco Branch. In that position, she negotiated and administered two dozen collective bargaining agreements covering employees in Bay Area TV and radio stations, plus contracts covering cable and home video markets. In 1992, Hedgpeth returned to New York City to take the position of AFTRA National Assistant Executive Director/News and Broadcast, where she was responsible for overall coordination, planning and direction of collective bargaining policies and activities for the national union and 32 AFTRA Locals in the areas of news and broadcast station staff negotiations.

Over the course of her 28-year association with AFTRA, Hedgpeth’s responsibilities have included negotiation of labor contracts in the areas of local and network news and broadcasting, television and radio advertising, sound recordings, and entertainment programming covering traditional television, cable television and emerging media.
Hedgpeth currently serves as a Vice President of the Associated Actors and Artistes of America, an umbrella organization for performing arts unions in the United States. Hedgpeth is a Trustee of the AFTRA Health and Retirement Funds, a multi-employer health and pension fund, with assets of over $1.6 billion. She also serves as a Trustee of the AFM-AFTRA Intellectual Property Trust Fund, and is a board member of the Alliance of Artists and Recordings Companies and SoundExchange. Hedgpeth serves as AFTRA’s representative to the AFL-CIO Department for Professional Employees, where she is a member of the DPE’s Executive Board, and as AFTRA’s representative to FIA, the International Federation of Actors.

Hedgpeth received her Bachelor’s degree in Government from Harvard University and her law degree from the Georgetown University Law Center, and is admitted to the California and New York State Bars. She has also served as Director of Labor and Employee Relations for Harvard University, where she was responsible for labor and employment policies for the University, as well as oversight of the University’s Disability Claims Unit. Following her tenure at Harvard, she served as Vice President of Human Resources of Safe Horizon, the nation's leading crime victims support and advocacy organization, before returning to AFTRA in 2001. Organizations in which Ms. Hedgpeth has held membership include the New England Human Resources Association, Society of Human Resources, the Massachusetts Governor's African-American Advisory Commission and the San Francisco Mayor's Film Advisory Council.

The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, with branch offices in Los Angeles, Seattle, Salt Lake City and Portland and a cash processing office in Phoenix, provides wholesale banking services to financial institutions throughout the nine western states. As the nation's central bank, the Federal Reserve System formulates monetary policy, serves as a bank regulator, administers consumer protection laws and is fiscal agent for the U.S. government.

Economic Advisory Council members provide information on current and pending developments in the regional and national economy. In their role, Economic Advisory Council members represent their industries by providing observations and opinions to the board of directors and management of the San Francisco Fed on the present state of the economy, and the developments within their area of expertise.

Named to the 2010 Economic Advisory Council in mid-December 2009, Hedgpeth joins fellow new appointee Roy A. Vallee, Chairman and CEO of Avnet, Inc., to serve a three-year term ending December 2012.

The balance of the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank’s Twelfth District Economic Advisory Council includes:

Stephen M. Brophy (Chair), President, Page Land & Cattle Company, Phoenix, Ariz.

Mary F. Kaiser (Vice Chair), President, California Community Reinvestment Corporation, Glendale, Calif.

Jonathan Coslet, Chief Investment Officer and Senior Partner, TPG Capital, L.P., San Francisco, Calif.

Susan Desmond-Hellmann, Chancellor, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, Calif.

Tracey C. Doi, Group Vice President and CFO, Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Inc., Torrance, Calif.

Rick R. Holley, President and CEO, Plum Creek Timber Co., Inc., Seattle, Wash.

Henry L. (Skip) Kotkins, Jr., Chairman and CEO, Skyway Luggage Company, Seattle, Wash.

Cathy Luke, President, Loyalty Enterprises, Ltd., Honolulu, Hawaii.

Alfred A. Plamann, President and CEO, Unified Grocers, Inc., Commerce, Calif.

About AFTRA
The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, AFL-CIO, are the people who entertain and inform America. In 32 Locals across the country, AFTRA members work as actors, journalists, singers, dancers, announcers, hosts, comedians, disc jockeys, and other performers across the media industries including television, radio, cable, sound recordings, music videos, commercials, audiobooks, non-broadcast industrials, interactive games, the Internet and other digital media. The 70,000 professional performers, broadcasters, and recording artists of AFTRA are working together to protect and improve their jobs, lives, and communities in the 21st century. From new art forms to new technology, AFTRA members embrace change in their work and craft to enhance American culture and society. Visit AFTRA online at www.aftra.com.

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