CMA Announces Promotions & Hires 

The Country Music Association has announced a dozen promotions and hires, including elevating Ben Balch to Vice President, Accounting and Finance and Aaron Hartley to Senior Director, Business Affairs. New hires include April Edman joining CMA as Director, Accounting and Finance and Jason Rost as Director, Ticketing and Premium Experiences. 

CMA is the premier trade association of the country music industry and is behind the CMA Awards, “CMA Fest” and “CMA Country Christmas,” all of which air on ABC. The organization also includes the CMA Foundation, which works to “provide equitable access to music education in order to create impactful change for students and teachers across the United States.” CMA Fest is set to return to Nashville June 5-8, with the lineup yet to be announced. 

Ben Blanch previously served as Senior Director, Accounting and Financial Planning and reports directly to CMA’s Chief Executive Officer, Sarah Trahern. He has spent more than a decade at CMA, with an announcement noting that his role involves “guiding the organization’s financial strategy, overseeing budgeting, forecasting, and long-term planning.” Balch can be reached via email at bbalch@cmaworld.com.

Aaron Hartley, who has been with CMA for 25 years, is “responsible for structuring and negotiating key agreements across the organization, including vendor contracts, publisher agreements, and artist talent negotiations.” His email is ahartley@cmaworld.com.

April Edman most recently was Senior Director, Finance at Sarah Cannon Research Institute. At CMA she will “oversee financial reporting accuracy, daily operations, budgeting, and tax filings, while also supporting audits and financial strategy.” She can be reached at aedman@cmaworld.com.

In his new role as Director, Ticketing and Premium Experiences Rost will “oversee ticketing strategy, pricing, operations and premium offerings for all CMA events, driving revenue growth and enhancing fan, partner and VIP experiences.” He previously served as Assistant Athletic Director, Ticket Initiatives & Customer Relations at Penn State University. His email is jrost@cmaworld.com

Kevin Coffey has been promoted to Director, Brand Partnerships Development after serving as Associate Director, Brand Partnerships Development. Reach Coffey at kcoffey@cmaworld.com.  

Meredith Goucher, who previously served as Senior Manager, International Relations and Development, has been promoted to Director, International Relations and Development. Reach Goucher at mgoucher@cmaworld.com.  

Isabel Baldinger has been promoted to Marketing Manager, having previously served as Marketing Project Manager. Reach Baldinger at ibaldinger@cmaworld.com.  

Other new hires include Anthony Sinnott as CRM Manager, Cailey Parker as Finance Operations Specialist, Emilie Dufresne as Junior Graphic Designer, Kylyn Healy as Production Coordinator, Jordan Maynard as Marketing Coordinator. Their respective emails are asinnott@cmaworld.com, cparker@cmaworld.com, edufresne@cmaworld.com, khealy@cmaworld.com and jmaynard@cmaworld.com.