2024 Impact 50 Honoree: Becky Gardenhire

CO-HEAD and PARTNER
WME NASHVILLE

YEARS IN THE BIZ: 22
BIZ PHILOSOPHY: Your reputation and integrity are your only assets.

Becky Gardenhire is Nashville’s highest ranking female agent. She made glass-ceiling-breaking history in 2019 as the first woman to be named a co-head of an agency in Music City — as well as one of the first women to lead a major agency office.

Her impressive roster includes Trisha Yearwood, Reba McEntire, Sara Evans, Lukas Nelson, Larry Fleet, BRELAND, Jordan Davis, LANCO, Tenille Townes, Ingrid Andress, Morgan Evans, Rascal Flatts, Rachel Wammack, Danielle Bradbery, Catie Offerman and many others.

Recent highlights include Jordan Davis supporting Luke Combs on his stadium tour, along with playing his own headline dates on the “Damn Good Time World Tour,” including Ford Idaho Center in Nampa, Idaho, on June 7 and Sara Evans’ theater and amphitheater dates along with festival appearances booked from June through November. And after wrapping “Phase 1” of the “Little More Countrier Tour,” BRELAND is headed out on the second leg in June.

As a partner and co-head of WME’s Nashville office, and like any good leader, Gardenhire credits her team at WME Nashville with the reason behind her year’s most impactful accomplishments. “As a team,” she says, “we continue to grow our international success for Nashville clients as well as opportunities outside of traditional touring opportunities that expand the fan base and reach for the roster.”

Gardenhire has spent 22 years in the business, getting her start at William Morris Agency as an assistant in the Beverly Hills, California’s Network Television department. She relocated to Nashville in 2003 and was named partner in 2017. Two years later, she was promoted to Nashville co-head and now oversees day-to-day operations. She has spent the past years helping lead WME’s continued growth in the market.

Gardenhire is cognizant of all the trailblazing women who helped her along her career path, telling MusicRow when she was named co-head that “… it’s so important to have a diverse room and diverse perspectives, whether it’s Cindy Mabe at Universal, or Ali Harnell or Sally Williams at Live Nation, it’s so important for more women to be part of leadership teams …”