Sundance Board of Trustees adds new members and appoints a new Chair

LOS ANGELES, Calif. — The Sundance Institute Board of Trustees announced that Ebs Burnough will serve as the nonprofit’s next Chair, Board of Trustees, starting in October 2021. Ebs was appointed as the Board’s Vice-Chair in 2020, and he will succeed Pat Mitchell when her term as Chair expires in October.

Sundance also announced two new Vice-Chairs of the Board, Sean Bailey and Gigi Pritzker, who will begin their roles in October.

The Board of Trustees holds the fiduciary responsibility for the Institute and works closely with the staff to develop strategic priorities that align with the values and vision of founder Robert Redford.

“Redford saw a need 40 years ago to create a space where artists could fail and try again; where new ideas and new voices could be nurtured and supported. That same need continues today, and the original lab programs he created continue year-round, supporting artists from around the world.” — Pat Mitchell, Sundance Institute

Burnough, the newly elected Board Chair, is currently Chair of the Institute’s Racial Equity and Justice Task Force and serves on both the governance and finance committees of the board. He has nearly two decades of strategic leadership in the arts, public policy, the private sector, and politics, and has been actively involved in the Institute since he joined the Board of Trustees. He is a filmmaker, writer, producer, visiting Oxford scholar, and marketing and communications executive. He is the former White House Deputy Social Secretary and Senior Advisor to First Lady Michelle Obama.

Sundance has two new Vice-Chairs of the Board: Sean Bailey and Gigi Pritzker. Sean was most recently the Chair of the 2021 Festival Task Force, is the Chair of the Board’s Marketing Committee and sits on the CEO Search Committee. Gigi currently chairs the Building Committee and sits on the Racial Equity and Justice Task Force and the CEO Search Committee.

Sean Bailey is president of Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Production, where he oversees all aspects of live-action development, film production, and physical production for Walt Disney Pictures. Disney’s upcoming titles include Jungle Cruise and The Little Mermaid. Prior to joining Walt Disney Studios in 2010, Bailey produced Disney’s TRON: Legacy in tandem with other media ranging from the Grammy-nominated RIAA Gold-certified soundtrack by Daft Punk to a multiplatform video game and the Disney XD television series TRON: Uprising. Sean worked as a writer-producer under an exclusive deal with ABC Studios from 2004 to 2008, during which time he continued in his capacity as chairman and board member of LivePlanet, the company he co-founded in 2000 with Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, and Chris Moore.

Gigi Pritzker is the founder and CEO of Madison Wells, Gigi seeks to lift underrepresented voices by developing, producing, and funding projects in film, television, and theater by and about badass women, as well as people who love pushing boundaries. In 2001, Gigi formed the independent production and finance company Oddlot Entertainment, which she merged into Madison Wells in 2015. She has turned Madison Wells into one of the most respected indie producers in Hollywood. Through her leadership and vision, Madison Wells releases have been regularly nominated for Academy Awards, Emmys, and Tonys.