Features
CMA Elects New Board Of Directors
Brad Barket / Invision / AP – Kix Brooks
NASH FM 94.7 Country Music Night 1, Roseland Ballroom, New York City
A new board of directors has been announced for the Country Music Association and the CMA Foundation, with CMA Board President Jody Williams (BMI) being named chairman of the board as former chairman Bill Simmons (The Fitzgerald Hartley Company) has completed his term.
Kurt Johnson (Townsquare Media) will take the position of CMA president and Mary Hillard Harrington (Red Light Management) is the new Board President Elect. Clay Hunnicutt (Big Loud Records) will be the Secretary/Treasurer. The appointments are effective Jan. 1.
The CMA Foundation chairperson will be Jennie Smythe (Girlilla Marketing) and Joe Galante (Galante Entertainment Organization) will be vice chair.
There are a plethora of other directoral positions associated with the CMA, including many “directors at large” and most categories have two directors, on staggered two-year terms. Some key new editions include Kix Brooks of Brooks & Dunn as Directors of Artists; Jay Liepis of Apple Music as director of marketing/digital; Derek Wells as director of Musicians; Gil Cunningham of Neste Event Marketing as director of talent buyers/promoters (along with Brian O’ Connell of Live Nation Nashville); David Haskell of Morris Light & Sound as director of Touring Personnel; John Bolton of SMG as director of venues.
The only position to not have at least two directors listed is that of talent agency, with John Hue of CAA serving the second year of a two-year term next year.
The CMA Foundation, the charitable arm of the Association, was thrown into the partisan feuding of American politics after Mike Huckabee joined the board earlier this year, only to resign after one day.