CEO Adjusts SAG’s Top Staff to Streamline Union

In his first major move since taking over last month as the Screen Actors Guild’s chief executive, Bob Pisano on Monday reshuffled the union’s top staff in an effort to streamline its bureaucracy.

The action involves having six top positions now reporting directly to Pisano, including four newly created deputy national executive directors.

Pisano said the action was part of a larger effort to reorganize SAG, long criticized for being burdened with a bloated, loose management structure. Last year, consultant Towers Perrin issued a blistering report of SAG’s organization, finding in one case that 38 people reported to a single executive when no more that eight would be appropriate.

The new deputy directors will oversee such areas as administration and finance, policy and planning, union contracts and organizing.

Pisano filled two of the posts, naming current SAG executive Sallie Weaver as policy deputy director and SAG’s John Sucke to oversee organizing along with branch office affairs. The union will search to fill the other two deputy director jobs.

Also reporting directly to Pisano will be SAG general counsel David Alter and longtime SAG official John McGuire, who last week was named a senior advisor to the union.

SAG also said Jerry Wilson, finance director since 1983, will retire.