EXCLUSIVE: Jayson Council has joined Gersh in the position of Head of Culture. It is a new position, and representative of the talent agency’s commitment to inclusion, equity and belonging, the partners said. Council is a cross-industry social impact innovator veteran with 20 years of experience in leading equity driven education reform, social purpose philanthropy, community activation, and corporate social responsibility, Council will lead Gersh’s efforts in identifying new opportunities to advance the agency’s commitment to improving and enhancing its cultural competence, including belonging, inclusion, and equity among others.
In this new role, Council will report directly to agency founders Bob Gersh, David Gersh, and Leslie Siebert. As part of Council’s purview, he will oversee the Gersh Culture Leadership Committee, a newly created equity group. The agency had previously established its Diversity Task Force in 2020 as a call to action to address social injustices. Council’s leadership will build and expand those efforts. He will also be tasked with amplifying the agency’s focus to include strategic philanthropy and corporate giving, community engagement and building new ways to attract clients and employees of all backgrounds and experiences.
“The entertainment community, as a whole, has used the events of the last few years as an opportunity to look within, and that has provided a new awareness to improve and implement change,” said Bob Gersh. “As an industry leader and pioneer, it is incredibly important Gersh set a standard so we can affect meaningful, substantial progress. Jayson Council is an incredible, forward-thinking, socially minded change agent who knows how to work within and bring about real advances. We thought long and hard about this position because it could not be just window dressing. Jayson has a very wide purview and that power and resources to accomplish all our initiatives. This is an integral part of how we growing and evolving Gersh.”
Said Council: “I did not just want to serve a cursory role in overseeing diversity and inclusion programs. Those are very serious responsibilities, but why not expand that to any and all ways to improve the workplace, our day-to-day lives, and community. This is an incredible opportunity to lead our industry in creating a more dynamic, fair, representative, and cohesive eco-system where everyone can thrive. Building a department rooted in culture makes a statement because that word means do much to so many of us. We want to reflect, recognize and reward people of all ethnicities, backgrounds, experiences and, yes, cultures.”