The Producers Guild of America’s (PGA) National Board of Directors announced the hiring of Michelle Byrd as managing director, PGA East, expanding the current staff with a newly created position. She was appointed after an extensive search led by PGA East chairs William Horberg and Kay Rothman, and with the support of PGA presidents Gary Lucchesi and Lori McCreary, PGA national executive director/COO Vance Van Petten, and PGA associate national executive director/COO Susan Sprung. Starting May 8, Byrd will report to LA-based Van Petten and Sprung, and oversee East Coast operations from the PGA’s New York office.
Prior to the PGA, Byrd spent over 20 years successfully building prominent, non-profit media organizations involved with film, digital, and games. Based in New York, she served 12 years (1997-2009) as executive director of IFP (Independent Filmmaker Project) establishing a legacy of programming and strategic partnerships that remain in place today, including a collaboration with the United Nations and re-positioning IFP’s Gotham Awards into awards season.
From 2010-2013, Byrd was co-president of Games for Change (with Asi Burak) and oversaw the Games for Change Festival and served as an executive producer on “Half the Sky” Movement games (Zynga, Ford Foundation, USAID) based on Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn’s best-selling book. Most recently, she ran her own consulting practice providing strategic planning, program and partnership development, and management advisory services for Ghetto Film School, Green Beetz, Museum of the Moving Image, New York State Commission on National and Community Service, and the Governor’s Office of Motion Picture & Television Development, among others.
Byrd is a recipient of the “Made in New York Award” from NYC’s Mayor and the “Good Egg Award” from Chicken & Egg Pictures, and sits on the Board of the Adrienne Shelly Foundation and the Advisory Boards of Chicken & Egg Pictures and STREB Lab for Action Mechanics.
