David Gross Named CEO Of Contract Services, Succeeds Ingrid Lohne

David Robb

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David Gross has been named CEO of Contract Services, the entertainment industry trust fund that administers the safety, training and roster provisions of the collective bargaining agreements between management’s Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers and the film and television industry’s West Coast Studio Local Unions.

Gross, formerly senior counsel for the AMPTP, succeeds Ingrid Lohne in the post. Lohne, who helmed Contract Services for 14 years, spearheaded the 2003 launch of the industry’s Safety Pass program, which trains production workers to meet industry safety standards as well as stringent regulations set by OSHA, Cal/OSHA and other government agencies. Lohne also oversaw the 2017 launch of the industry-wide harassment prevention training program and Contract Services’ 2016 move to its current offices and expanded training facilities in Burbank.

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Gross had previously been selected by the Contract Services board of trustees to serve as interim Chief Administrative Officer while the board, chaired by Nicole A-J. Gustafson, Paramount Pictures’ EVP Worldwide Industrial Relations & Production Safety, conducted its CEO search.

“The board’s charge,” Gustafson said, “was to find the best candidate possible, someone who intimately understands the intricacies of the film and television industry and has the skillset and capacity to lead Contract Services — a pillar organization with increasing relevance in our industry — into the future. We’ve done just that. The bonus is, in David we have someone who also understands Contract Services and cares about both the organization and its employees.”

Gross served as an executive and attorney at the AMPTP for the past eight years and as the AMPTP’s representative on Contract Services’ board for the past six. He also served as a trustee on the Producer-Writers Guild of America Pension and Health Plan and as a delegate to the Hollywood Commission on Sexual Harassment and Advancing Equality in the Workplace.

Before joining the AMPTP, he began his career as an associate attorney at Proskauer Rose LLP specializing in labor and employment law. He holds a J.D. from USC and a B.A. in Government and History from Cornell University.

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