The AGMA Board of Governors has announced Sam Wheeler as the Union’s new National Executive Director.

The Board approved the appointment on Thursday, Jan. 27, 2022 with Wheeler assuming the position on Feb. 1, 2022.

Wheeler is a union-side labor lawyer who has dedicated his professional life to the labor movement and joined AGMA in 2019 as Eastern Counsel.

During his time with the union, Wheeler served AGMA members and negotiated and administered collective bargaining agreements at a number of AGMA signatory companies including the Metropolitan Opera, American Ballet Theatre, Boston Ballet, Boston Lyric Opera, Chautauqua Opera, and Pittsburgh Opera. He has also served as an advisor to AGMA elected leadership, as staff liaison to several AGMA standing committees, and as a project manager for national initiatives, including recent elections for AGMA’s Area Committees.

Following his appointment, Wheeler said, “I am honored and humbled to be asked by AGMA’s Board of Governors to serve as the next National Executive Director of such a strong and dynamic union. AGMA Artists are the very best in the world at what they do and I have been privileged to watch them come together in solidarity to weather the darkest period for the Arts in living memory. I look forward to leading AGMA’s amazing team of professional staff in the ongoing fight to protect the health and safety of our community and to rededicating ourselves to the fight for just compensation, diversity, dignity, and justice for AGMA Artists in theaters, studios, and concert halls across the country.”

Wheeler succeeds AGMA’s former National Executive Director Leonard Egert, who served in this leadership role from August 2016 until January 2022.