The American Guild of Musical Artists lost a bright light when Alan Gordon, AGMA's National Executive Director, died on New Year's Day. One of the labor movement’s most independent, iconoclastic, and forward-looking leaders, Gordon "often used unorthodox tactics" in protecting the rights of unionized singers, dancers, and stage production staff at opera and dance companies throughout the United States, said the New York Times, "fielding unusually large negotiating teams of artists and urging them all to have their say during bargaining sessions across the table from management, even trying to invite reporters into usually private labor talks." As a result, "AGMA contracts are now stronger, members are now consistently well represented, and the union’s financial situation is secure," said Eleni Kallas, AGMA's National Director of Organizing and Training and Mid-Atlantic Area Representative.