Cris Lacy & Ben Kline Add Co-Chair Titles at Warner Music Nashville

Warner Music Nashville (WMN) leaders Cris Lacy and Ben Kline have been elevated to co-chair/co-president titles, following their promotion to co-presidents of the label in June 2022. Kline and Lacy launched the new year with a company-wide, off-site day of culture building and programming last week.

“I’m honored to lead WMN with Cris in what is an exciting time of change and opportunity for this business,” Kline said in a statement. “We are committed to continuing our leadership position within that change by being laser focused on our incredible artists, their powerful music and their creative visions.”

Lacy added, “Let’s be honest, this is a time of great change in the world at large too. When culture shifts, music ignites, it bridges, it covers, it uncovers. We are here for all of that, and proud to be the Nashville contingent that amplifies those stories to all parts of the globe.”

Lacy and Kline were promoted following the announcement of John Esposito‘s transition to chairman emeritus at the beginning of the year. Billboard broke the news of the pending leadership transition in April 2022. Lacy has been with WMN since 2005, while Kline joined in 2014.

During an interview with Billboard back in 2019, Esposito noted that Kline and Lacy were already being prepped to take over greater leadership roles: “I’m putting all sorts of weight on their shoulders. And the great news is since we did that promotion, they both have risen to an even higher level,” he said. “I’m happy knowing I can give them so much to do so they can become as much the face of the label as me. And that has taken a weight off of me. If I walk in the room, [people] assume I can make the final decision. Now they know that either of them can make a decision [too].”