TORONTO – Labour lawyer Marie Kelly has been tapped to helm ACTRA, the national union of professional performers working in the English-language recorded media sector in Canada, as its new national executive director and chief negotiator.
Kelly succeeds the retiring Stephen Waddell who has held the role since 1992, though he will stay on in an advisory role until fall 2020, reads Monday’s announcement.
A veteran lawyer with a long history of representing workers’ rights within Canada’s labour movement, Kelly comes to ACTRA after six years at the Ontario Nurses’ Association (ONA) where she most recently held the role of CEO/CAO. Prior to ONA, she worked for the United Steelworkers where, over the course of 22 years, she served in various capacities including as executive director, legal counsel and became the first woman in North America to be appointed to the position of assistant director.
“On behalf of ACTRA performers we are thrilled to announce Marie Kelly as our new National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator,” said ACTRA national president David Sparrow, in the announcement. “Recognizing Marie’s long-standing career and vast leadership expertise in the labour movement, our union will continue to set the standards for collective bargaining in the arts, to be a leading voice for Canadian culture and to fight for the rights of professional performers.”
