The Young and the Restless has hired a new head writing team, Soap Central has learned. The top-rated CBS soap has named daytime vets Jean Passanante and Shelly Altman as its head writers. The pair has a collective 30-plus years of daytime television writing experience.

Additionally, Tracey Thomson has been promoted to co-head writer.

The changes were officially announced by Steve Kent, Senior Executive Vice President, U.S. Programming at Sony Pictures Television, on September 12.

"Shelly has been an important part of the Y&R writing team since joining the show last year and Jean brings with her a wealth of daytime writing experience," Kent said. "We are excited to have these two talented daytime veterans leading our writing team at Y&R. We are also thrilled to have Tracey take on a new role and we look forward to her creative input to the show."

Since 1994, Passanante has earned twelve Daytime Emmy nominations, with four of the nominations resulting in Emmy wins. Passanante's most recent stint as head writer was with As the World Turns; she assumed the role of head writer in 2005 and remained on board as co-head writer through the show's series finale in 2010. Prior to that, Passanante briefly served as head writer of All My Children from 2010 to 2011, where she received the Writers Guild and GLAAD Media Awards. Passanante also served in a co-head writer capacity on the writing teams of Another World (1998 to 1999) and One Life to Live (1992 to 1998), for which she won a 1994 Emmy award. Passanante has been working as a breakdown writer for General Hospital.

Passanante was also the director of ABC Daytime's Writer Development program. Prior to her work in television, Passanante spent fifteen years as a theater administrator, dramaturge, and producer.

Altman began her daytime career in 1995 as an associate head writer on Another World. Upon its cancellation, Altman jumped from Another World to One Life to Live where she remained for more than a decade. Altman eventually shifted west, joining the writing team of General Hospital in 2011 before exiting earlier this year to join The Young and the Restless' writing team.

Altman has one Daytime Emmy win under her belt. She has five additional Emmy nods, and four Writers Guild Award nominations.

Thomson wrote for General Hospital from 2006 to 2008, for All My Children from 2008 to 2010, and returned to GH from 2010 to 2012. She joined the writing team at The Young and the Restless in 2012. Thomson has been nominated for two Writers Guild Awards and won for her work on GH in 2012, and has been nominated for four Emmy Awards.

In early August, Josh Griffith was let go from his position as head writer over what Griffith later said in an email were "irreconcilable differences."

Griffith was appointed head writer of The Young and the Restless in July 2012.