Leadership Music Elects Board, President Pat Collins

Pat Collins

SESAC Pres. & COO Pat Collins has been elected president of the board of directors of Leadership Music. Since joining the board in 2006, Collins has served as President-Elect and on the Executive Committee.

Collins came to SESAC in 1995 after a 21-year career at ASCAP, where he held various positions in the licensing division, ultimately being named Director of General Licensing and National Sales. At SESAC, Collins served as Senior Vice President of Licensing for several years before being named President & COO.

Recognized as one of the leading performing rights experts in the United States, Collins has appeared before various sub-committees of the United States Congress on legislative matters impacting copyrights. He also has given testimony before numerous state legislatures on matters of copyright and has appeared as both guest and moderator on panels focusing on performing rights in the U.S.

Additional Officers include President Elect – Jamie Cheek, Business Manager/Partner, Flood, Bumstead, McCready & McCarthy, Inc.; Secretary – Beverly Keel, Professor of Recording Industry at MTSU; and Treasurer – Tim Wipperman; President and CEO, Wipperman Music Group.

Other members of the Executive Committee are songwriter J. Fred Knobloch, producer Garth Fundis, SunTrust VP Lori Badgett, former CMA Exec. Dir. Ed Benson, and NSAI/Bluebird Cafe Dir. of Development/Manager Erika Wollam-Nichols.

New board members elected to two-year terms include John Beiter, Attorney, Zumwalt, Almon & Hayes, PLLC; Linda Bloss-Baum, VP Public Policy & Government Relations, Warner Music Group; Mark Bright, President & CEO, Word Entertainment; Vincent Candilora, Sr. VP/Director of Licensing, ASCAP; Jay Frank, Sr. VP Music Strategy, CMT; Bill Lee, Sr. VP Licensing Operations, SESAC; Bruce Phillips, Managing Partner, Lyon & Phillips, PLLC; Thom Schuyler, Songwriter and former board member; Larry Stessel, President, Trillium Entertainment; John Styll, President & CEO, Gospel Music Association; Bethel “Bo” Thomas, VP for University Advancement, Belmont University; Stacy Widelitz, President, Stacy Widelitz Music, Inc.

Board members serving through June 30, 2010 include Drew Alexander, Director of Publishing, Curb Music Group; Mitch Bainwol, Chairman & CEO, RIAA; Tom Baldrica, VP Marketing, Sony Music Entertainment Inc.; Fred Buc, GM, Tuned In Broadcasting/WRLT-FM, Lightning 100; Jamie Cheek; Pat Collins; Garth Fundis; John Grady, President Nashville Operations, Borman Entertainment; Jeff Gregg, Agent, Creative Artists Agency; Kerry Hansen, CEO/Personal Manager, Big Enterprises; Liz Kiley, VP Broadcast Affiliations & Operations, MTV tr3s; Pam Matthews, Owner, DuVoyant Music; Mark Montgomery, Entrepreneur, hellomarko.com = ideas and execution; Robert K. Oermann, Owner, R.K.O. Media Products; and Randy Wachtler, President, 615 Music Companies.

Board members re-elected to serve through June 30, 2011 include Lori Badgett; Ed Benson; Caroline Davis, Communications Consultant; Beverly Keel; Dave Pomeroy, Bassist/Writer/Producer, Earwave Music Group and President, AFM; Ralph Schulz, President and CEO, Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce; Tim Wipperman; and Erika Wollam-Nichols.

Leadership Music’s executive director, Kira Florita, continues to serve as an ex-officio member of the board. Wayne Halper, Esq., Bruce Phillips of Lyon & Phillips, PLLC, and Robert Sullivan of Loeb & Loeb, LLP serve as the not-for-profit educational organization’s legal counsel.

For a complete list of the Board of Directors, visit www.leadershipmusic.org.