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Harnell, DuCharme, Weiser Shift Roles In AEG Presents Nashville Restructure
– Ali Harnell
AEG Presents is making changes in Nashville, with longtime Music City staple Ali Harnell looking more at global touring while Mike DuCharme, previously from Kansas City, will take over the Nashville regional office and Adam Weiser comes from Jersey to be VP of AEG Presents’ theatres and clubs.
Harnell is now Senior VP of Global Touring for AEG Presents, though she was previously the senior VP of AEG Presents’s office in Nashville. While she was overseeing that regional office she also ran national tours, playing an essential role in the rise of acts like Little Big Town, and developed projects like the Country 2 Country music festival overseas in Europe. She is also still the co-manager of The Shadowboxers as a part of Twelve5 Management with Carolyn Snell. Another big supporter of that band is Tennessee native Justin Timberlake.
“I’m excited to give more focused attention to my true love and passion for touring,” Harnell told Pollstar. “I will continue to work with so many of my favorite artists, agents, and managers and I look forward to cultivating new opportunities in this new position.”
Before leading the AEG Presents regional office in Nashville, Harnell started her career at William Morris in New York after college. She was eventually hired by Ron Delsener as an assistant to Melissa Miller (Ormond), became a promoter and was picked up by Louis Messina to run Pace Concerts Southeast in Nashville in the ’90s.
Mike DuCharme will be the new VP of the Nashville office, coming over from Kansas City where he worked with AEG Presents Midwest to make the Arvest Bank Theatre At The Midland a destination venue. DuCharme will be overseeing AEG Presents’ Nashville Yards project, the development of a more than 4,000-capacity venue in Music City, with plans for a grand opening in a “couple years.”
“I am excited to dig in with the team in Nashville, working with friends and making new ones,” DuCharme told Pollstar. “I will continue to keep my hands in KC for the time being to make sure we have a smooth transition there while working to maintain the great relationships Ali and Lenore have built here and [to] build on my own.”
Prior to his near-decade with AEG Presents he was a VP of talent at the Viper Room in West Hollywood, Calif. Before that he worked with
Adam Weiser will be working as VP of theatres and clubs for AEG Presents, working from the AEG Nashville office, where he told Pollstar he is excited to grow the team. Prior to the move Weiser was working as the Senior Talent Buyer for AEG Presents in the New York / New Jersey area – including for The Bowery Presents and Starland Ballroom – for more than a decade. He shouted out Harnell as a longtime mentor and Mike DuCharme as a great colleague and friend.
“I’m excited to be in Nashville and continue to grow as a promoter,” Weiser told Pollstar. “This community embraced me since my first trip in 2010, and I knew it would eventually be home. I look forward to working with Brittanie Delava and our Club and Theater team as well as continuing my relationships with the great artists, managers and agents we work with.”
Despite the move, Weiser said he will continue working with his East Coast colleagues moving forward, saying: “Starland Ballroom was home for 10-plus years; we have an incredible team at the venue. Justin Bridgewater joined the Starland Ballroom/Bowery Presents team at the top of the year and has done a great job transitioning as a Senior Talent Buyer. I’ll continue working with Justin and our office on northeast club, theater and arena bookings.”
Weiser won IEBA’s club buyer of the year award in 2014 and 2017. He was also nominated for the Pollstar nightclub buyer of the year award in 2015.