CMA Elects New Board of Directors; Appointments Take Effect Jan. 1, 2010
NASHVILLE - (October 21, 2009) The Country Music Association held the annual Board of Directors election meeting in Nashville this week. The new Board year does not begin until Jan. 1, 2010.
Taking over as President of the Board is Steve Buchanan, President Grand Ole Opry Group. Buchanan, who is currently President-Elect of the CMA Board, joined the Board in 2003 and has served as a committee chair for several years including his current role as chair of the TV Marketing Strategies Committee.
"I hoped that someday I would have the opportunity to serve as President or Chairman of the Board," said Buchanan. "I would say that I only recently understood the overall complexity of that responsibility and the many aspects that go into making this organization tick.
"I feel that I've gone through an apprenticeship of sorts over the past year working with Randy Goodman and Steve Moore, attending committee meetings, and weekly leadership meetings, to really get a better understanding of what's involved, what the important issues are, and hopefully what will serve me in the coming years to do a better job of helping make the right decisions for the organization."
Buchanan will be joined by former President and now Chairman Steve Moore, Senior Vice President of AEG Live!, in CMA's top two leadership positions.
"Steve has already proven himself as an important player in implementing the Board's initiatives this year as CMA's President-Elect," said Moore. "He steps into his new role as President with his sleeves rolled up, ready for what's ahead."
"Steve's leadership ability is obvious to anyone who works with him," said CMA Chief Executive Officer Tammy Genovese. "I admire his passion for the music, the artists, and our community, and we are fortunate to have him step into this important role as CMA and the music industry confronts new challenges."
Buchanan was raised in Oak Ridge, Tenn. His father was a nuclear engineer, and his mother was a chemist, who also played guitar and taught lessons. Music was a regular feature in the home and although his parents favored classical and folk music, Buchanan like a lot of kids growing up in the '60s and '70s favored Poco, Linda Ronstadt, the Eagles, and Jackson Browne.
He started out in the engineering school at Vanderbilt University, studying to be an environmental engineer. But despite his family pedigree, the path wasn't a good fit and Buchanan transferred to the school of arts and science to earn a BS degree in sociology and psychology.
As a freshman, however, Buchanan took his first steps toward the music industry by getting involved in the Vanderbilt concert program. Even as an undergraduate, he understood the importance of engaging the wider public to support the music he loved.
"I loved music and concerts at all levels, whether it was being done in a club or a coffee house, little theater or the gymnasium," Buchanan said. "It's where I started getting some basic sense of the business."
The foundation of his future endeavors with CMA began early. Artist manager and CMA Board member Ken Levitan and Buchanan were in the same freshman hall at Vanderbilt. Levitan had gone to work for Buddy Lee Attractions and was getting ready to enter law school when Buchanan followed his footsteps to the booking agency, where he was hired in 1980 by Tony Conway, another of CMA's volunteer leaders. He was there until 1984, working with a variety of acts including Jerry Lee Lewis, Bill Monroe, Johnny Paycheck, George Strait, Porter Wagoner and more.
At Buddy Lee Attractions, Buchanan said he, "developed a much better understanding of the basic economics of the business on the touring side. I also started to have an even better understanding of artist relations and the dynamics of the relationship between artists, managers, labels, booking agencies and publishers."
He left Buddy Lee Attractions to pursue his MBA from the Owen School at Vanderbilt and was hired by Gaylord Entertainment in 1985 as the Marketing Manager for the Grand Ole Opry. "I had a strong feeling that this was a place where I could flourish and enjoy what I was doing," he said.
Buchanan was named general manager of the Ryman Auditorium in 1993 and promoted to president of the Grand Ole Opry Group in 1998. During his years at Gaylord, Buchanan acquired a variety of skills from television to record production, bringing a unique breadth of experience to his role as CMA Board President.
"Because we are fortunate enough to be able to interact with so many different artists at so many different points in their careers, it gives you a broad perspective of the artist experience, as well as a snapshot of the industry at any moment in time," he said.
As for the future of the Association, Buchanan's focus is clearly on CMA's core initiatives, in addition to research and education.
"CMA is a trade organization. We always need to reflect back on that and not lose sight of the fact that we are here to serve the Country Music industry and do everything we can to take the industry to new heights," Buchanan said. "We accomplish that through a couple of primary vehicles: One being the CMA Awards and the other being CMA Music Festival. As well, professional development and engaging CMA's membership should be an important part of what we do for those within the industry."
A trombone player in middle and high school, Buchanan also played piano and guitar, so it comes as no surprise that he dedicates much of his time to groups and causes that support music education including CMA's music education cause, "Keep the Music Playing." He is an active member of the community, serving on numerous organizations including W.O. Smith Community Music School, Opry Trust Fund, Crescendo Music Community Fund, Sound and Speed, the Nashville Alliance for Public Education, and Nashville Mayor Karl Dean's Music Business Council.
Buchanan is married to Ree Guyer Buchanan, who owns a small, respected, independent publishing company, Wrensong Publishing.
An organized succession in CMA's volunteer leadership was established in 2003. Four directors also serve as Officers of the Board, those being Chairman, President, President-Elect and Secretary/Treasurer. This move established a line of succession with the President-Elect moving to President and the President becoming Chairman.
These officers for the 2010 term will be Chairman Steve Moore; President Steve Buchanan; President-Elect Gary Overton, Executive Vice President/General Manager, EMI Music Publishing; and Secretary/Treasurer Erv Woolsey, The Erv Woolsey Company.
FOLLOWING IS A LIST OF CMA DIRECTORS AND DIRECTORS AT LARGE:
Directors By Membership Category
Carryover Directors, who are serving the second year of a two-year term, are followed by newly-elected Directors (indicated in bold).
Advertising Agency/PR/Marketing
Jessie Schmidt, Schmidt Relations
Jeff Walker, AristoMedia/Marco Promotions
Affiliated/Producer
Connie Bradley, ASCAP
Steve Buchanan, Gaylord Entertainment Co.
Artist
Troy Gentry, Montgomery Gentry
Kix Brooks, Brooks & Dunn
Broadcast Air Talent
Storme Warren, Different Drummer Productions, LLC
Composer
Steve Bogard, One Music Group
Victoria Shaw, AvaRu Music
Entertainment Services
Frank Bumstead, Flood, Bumstead, McCready, & McCarthy, Inc.
Mike Vaden, The Vaden Group
International
Rob Potts, Rob Potts Entertainment Edge, Five Dock, Australia
Ron Kitchener, RGK Entertainment, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Music Publisher/PRO
Troy Tomlinson, Sony/ATV Music Publishing
Gary Overton, EMI Music Publishing
Musician
John Hobbs
Randy Scruggs, Randy Scruggs Productions
Personal Manager
Clarence Spalding, Spalding Entertainment, LLC
Doc McGhee, McGhee Entertainment
Producer/Engineer/Studio
Mark Wright, Universal Records South
Radio
Mike Moore, Entercom Communications, Portland, OR
Becky Brenner, KMPS-FM, CBS Seattle, Wash.
Record Company
Joe Galante, Sony Music Entertainment
Randy Goodman, Lyric Street and Carolwood Records
Talent Agent/Promoter
Tony Conway, Buddy Lee Attractions
Joey Lee, 360 Artist Agency
Talent Buyer/Venues
John Juliano, Eastern States Exposition, West Springfield, Mass.
Jeff Krueger, FACE, Inc./WE Fest, Detroit Lakes, Minn.
Television/Video/Media
Lon Helton, Country Aircheck
Brian Philips, Country Music Television (CMT)
Lifetime Directors
J. William Denny
Ralph Peer II
Frances Preston
Ex-Officio Members
Jim Free, The Smith-Free Group, Washington, D.C.
Kyle Young, Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum
Directors at Large
Jaye Albright, Albright & O'Malley, Bainbridge Island, Wash.
Bruce Allen, Bruce Allen Talent, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Charlie Anderson, Anderson Merchandisers, Knoxville, Tenn.
Scott Borchetta, Big Machine Records/Valory Music Company
Luke Bryan, artist
Barry Coburn, Ten Ten Music Group, Inc.
Pat Collins, SESAC
Charlie Cook, KKGO Radio, Los Angeles, Calif.
Jay DeMarcus, Rascal Flatts
Bob DiPiero, Love Monkey Music
Tim DuBois, Dottore-DuBois Management
Mike Dungan, Capitol Records
Kitty Moon Emery, KittyMoon Enterprises
John Esposito, Warner Bros. Records
Mike Evans, SMG, Philadelphia, Penn.
Karen Fairchild, Little Big Town
Larry Fitzgerald, the Fitzgerald Hartley Company
Craig Fruin, HK Management
Jeff Garrison, KILT, Infinity Broadcasting, Houston, Texas
Ed Hardy, Great American Country (GAC)
Pat Higdon, Universal Music Publishing Group
Clint Higham, Morris Management Group
Greg Hill, Red Light Management
Dann Huff, Dann Huff Productions
John Huie, Creative Artists Agency
Brett James, Cornman Music
Ken Levitan, Vector Management
Luke Lewis, UMG Nashville
Jay Liepis, Apple, Inc., iTunes Store
Scott Lindy, Clear Channel Communications, Atlanta, Ga.
Erik Logan, Harpo, Inc., Chicago, Ill.
Ralph Mastrangelo, Clair Bros. Audio Ent. Inc.
JD May, Ticketmaster Entertainment
Deb McDermott, Young Broadcasting, Inc.
Steve Moore, AEG Live!
John Rich, Big & Rich
David Ross, Music Row Publications, Inc.
Ron Sakamoto, Gold & Gold Productions, LTD., Alberta, Canada
Victor Sansone, Irving, Texas
Rick Shipp, William Morris Agency
Denise Stiff, DS Managment
Trey Turner, Turner & Nichols and Associates
Rusty Walker, Rusty Walker Programming Consultant, Inc., Iuka, Miss.
Jody Williams, BMI
Larry Wilson, Alpha Broadcasting Corporation, Portaland, Org.
Tim Wipperman
Lee Ann Womack, artist
Erv Woolsey, The Erv Woolsey Company
Founded in 1958, the Country Music Association was the first trade organization formed to promote a type of music. More than 6,000 music industry professionals and companies from around the globe are members of CMA.
