Executive Turntable: Moves at Warner Records’ Urban Promotion Department; HarbourView Names MD

Warner Records promoted Ron Stewart to senior vp of urban promotion and hired Cory Sparks as vp of urban promotion. Stewart’s duties will expand, with the executive now leading promotion strategy and campaigns for all urban artists on the label’s roster. Based in New York, he reports to executive vp of promotion & commerce Mike Chester. The Atlanta-based Sparks, who reports to Stewart, joins the label from Epic Records, where he was vp of promotion.

Sherrese Clarke Soares‘ global alternative asset management company HarbourView Equity Partners hired Palisa Kelley as managing director and head of legal and business affairs. Kelley joins HarbourView from Selverne Kelley Bradford, PLLC, a boutique law firm serving the music industry where she served as partner.

David Gorman was hired as creative director at Exceleration Music. In the role, he will oversee the direction of Exceleration’s consumer-facing digital and physical art, as well as packaging and video projects for the company’s label and artist partners. Gorman joins Exceleration — which supports artists, creators and entrepreneurs in the independent music space — from Amazon Music, where he worked as global catalog programming lead.

Howard Price was named head of media at Bucks Music Group. Reporting to managing director Simon Platz, Price will maintain and develop the company’s relationships with composers, broadcasters and production companies and manage publishing interests in music composed for film, TV and media. He most recently served as senior vp of visual & media rights at Sony Music Publishing. Price can be reached at hprice@bucksmusicgroup.co.uk.

Britt Lovejoy and Elana Nightingale Dawson were promoted to partner at the law firm Lathan & Watkins. Both are members of the firm’s connectivity, privacy & information practice and the litigation & trial department, representing clients including digital media companies, music broadcasters and internet platforms in copyright and related matters. Lovejoy can be reached at britt.lovejoy@lw.com and Nightingale Dawson can be reached at elana.nightingale.dawson@lw.com.

Secretly Group hired Laura “Lau” Frías as A&R director on the label side and Tony Messina-Doerning and Trinity Hood as A&R and A&R associate, respectively, at Secretly Publishing. Based in Brooklyn, Frías will serve A&R duties for Secretly labels Dead Oceans, Jagjaguwar, Saddest Factory Records and Secretly Canadian. She joins the company from Kobalt Music Group and reports to Secretly Group vp of A&R Jon Coombs. Messina-Doerning and Hood, both based in Los Angeles and reporting to Secretly Publishing’s senior director of A&R Eddie Sikazwe, join from Nice Life Recording Company and UTA, respectively.

Erin Mackay, who departed his role as executive vp of global digital strategy at Warner Chappell Music at the beginning of the year, has started imbr, a fintech company designed to simplify global rights payments for songwriters. Those interested can join the waitlist and receive updates by visiting imbr.co.

Sophia Margerison was named global business development director at YMU. Based between London and Los Angeles, Margerison joins the artist management company from Pollen, where she served as head of live music partnerships. In her new role, she will recruit new artist managers, look to broaden and diversify YMU’s roster and help oversee the global representation of the company’s clients. Margerison can be reached at Sophia.Margerison@ymugroup.com.

ASM Global named Patrick Lynch senior vp of private events in the U.S; he joins the company from e-commerce and marketing platform Mercato. In the role, Lynch will work with ASM Global’s national sales force to focus on new business opportunities for the company’s private event portfolio. He can be reached at plynch@asmglobal.com.

Perkins Publicity founder Trevor Perkins relaunched management firm Sincerely Music Group and signed artist Nathan Wilson ahead of the release of the singer-songwriter’s next single, “Meant for You,” on Friday (Nov. 4). Perkins can be reached at info@thesincerelymusicgroup.com.

BBR Music Group promoted Caroline Fields to director of publicity and hired Camryn Scharnhorst as manager of publicity. Fields, who was previously manager of publicity, will continue to handle media relations, asset creation and strategy development and implementation while serving as the day-to-day point person for several artists. Scharnhorst, who most recently worked as the account manager for four large-market country radio stations in Kansas City, Missouri, will manage the day-to-day publicity needs of artists on the roster. Both Fields and Scharnhorst will report to senior vp of publicity Jay Jones; they can be reached at caroline@bbrmusicgroup.com and camryn@bbrmusicgroup.com, respectively.

Folk Alliance International hired Neeta Ragoowansi as its new executive director, succeeding Aengus Finnan in the role. Ragoowansi, who most recently served as senior counsel of legal & business affairs at Global Citizen, will look to expand the organization’s global reach and partnerships and further expand its programs for education and access to networks and finances, among other goals. She will continue to serve in a volunteer capacity as president of Music Managers Forum – U.S., global co-chair for Women in Music and co-chair of the diversity, equity & inclusion task force for the American Bar Association’s forum on the entertainment & sports industries.

The Academy of Country Music announced its newly-elected board of directors for the 2022-23 term. They include Scot Calonge, Jackie Campbell, Charlie Cook, Cyndi Forman, Margaret Hart, Deana Ivey, Chandra LaPlume, Chris Lisle, Cindy Mabe, Lee Thomas Miller, Curt Motley, Kristie Sloan, Adam Weiser and Rachel Whitney. In addition, director-at-large positions were appointed by ACM board of directors chair Chuck Aly, vice-chair Ebie McFarland and vp Randy Bernard. Appointees include George Curi, Benson Curb, Beville Dunkerley, Becky Gardenhire, Shannan Hatch, Jeremy Holley, Frank Liddell, Jon Loba, Shawn McSpadden, Austin Neal, Brian O’Connell, Rod Phillips, Kelly Rich, Tim Roberts, Scott Scovill, Sally Seitz, Laura Veitz and Candice Watkins. All directors will serve two-year terms aside from Shannan Hatch and Austin Neal, who have been appointed to one-year terms to fill a previous vacancy.