News & Publications
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Oct. 17, 2007
CMA ELECTS RANDY GOODMAN PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD
CMA Elects New Board of Directors Appointments take Effect Nov. 8 Following “The 41st Annual CMA Awards”
NASHVILLE – The Country Music Association held the annual Board of Directors election meeting in Nashville this week. The new Board year does not begin until Nov. 8, the day after “The 41st Annual CMA Awards.”
Taking over as President of the Board is Randy Goodman, President of Lyric Street Records.
“There’s never been a time in my professional experience in Country Music that I wasn’t aware of CMA or didn’t understand its importance,” Goodman said. “I approach this role with a great deal of humility and a great sense of honor. I was waiting for a meeting to start the other morning, standing in the CMA lobby, and looking at that bronze list of all the people who have been chairmen and president, and thinking, ‘Wow, these are some amazing people, leaders of our community past and present.’ And it made me stop and think to myself that whatever I do, I want to do it to the best of my ability, so that years from now someone looking at that list can say, ‘You know, that time was a great time in the life of the CMA.”
Goodman will be joined by former President and now Chairman Clarence Spalding, President of Spalding Entertainment LLC, in CMA’s top two leadership positions.
“I am very excited to have Randy as the President of the CMA Board,” said Spalding. “He is intelligent, articulate and a natural leader. His insight and vision has been a great asset to the Board already and I look forward to a very productive year.”
“Randy has already proven to be an invaluable member of the Board and the leadership team,” said CMA Chief Operating Officer Tammy Genovese. “He not only has great passion for the music and the artists, but also has extraordinary business acumen. He brings nearly 30 years of experience to the Association and we are fortunate to have him step into this important leadership position as we move into 2008.”
Goodman originally hails from Nashville having spent some of his younger years in Pennsylvania and another five while at RCA living in Manhattan and Stamford, CT, while working for RCA in New York City. He received a B.S. in Political Science and Economics from David Lipscomb University and also attended Belmont University’s Music Business College.
Post graduation, Goodman spent 18 months working as a road manager. In 1980 he was hired by Tandy Rice’s Top billing as the agency’s publicist. In 1981, he joined RCA Records as a publicist. Hired by his future mentor Joe Galante, Goodman quickly ascended through the company, working with such acts as Alabama, The Judds, Waylon Jennings, KT Oslin, Restless Heart, Clint Black, Martina McBride, and Kenny Chesney before leaving Nashville for New York after Galante became president of RCA North America in 1990.
Goodman returned to Nashville in 1995 as General Manager of RCA Label Group. In 1997, Goodman left RCA and launched Lyric Street Records. The company is now celebrating its 10th anniversary with current artist roster Rascal Flatts, SHeDAISY, Bucky Covington, Josh Gracin, Trent Tomlinson, Sarah Buxton, and Marcel. Goodman and his wife Jennifer live in Nashville with their two children, Ross, 13, and Rachel, 10.
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.
Having a year as President-Elect to immerse himself in the issues facing CMA was a benefit to Goodman.
“Every time over the past year there has been any kind of meeting that was CMA related, I’ve been there,” Goodman said. “It was just immersing myself in the business of CMA, from every aspect of every committee. It’s been about getting my hands dirty, but doing it in a way that’s a bit under the radar, because I don’t have to be the person making the decision. I’m there to hear the dialog and learn from that and where it is appropriate, offer my opinions.”
The officers for the 2007-2008 term will be Chairman Clarence Spalding; President Randy Goodman; President-Elect Steve Moore, AEG Live; and Secretary/Treasurer Tim Wipperman, Chief Creative Officer Equity Music Group.
FOLLOWING IS A LIST OF ALL CMA DIRECTORS AND DIRECTORS AT LARGE:
Directors By Membership Category
Newly-elected Directors are indicated in bold followed by Carryover Directors, who are serving the second year of a two-year term.
Advertising Agency/PR
Dick Gary, The Gary Group, Santa Monica, Calif.
Artist Musician
Jay DeMarcus, Rascal Flatts
Kix Brooks, B&D, Inc.
Composer
Bob DiPiero, Love Monkey Music
Brett James, Cornman Music
International
Bruce Allen, Bruce Allen Talent, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Ron Sakamoto, Gold & Gold Productions, LTD., Alberta, Canada
Music Publishing
Pat Higdon, Universal Music Publishing Group
Gary Overton, EMI Music Publishing
Personal Manager
Larry Fitzgerald, The Fitzgerald Hartley Company
Clint Higham, Morris Management Group
Radio Management
Ben Reed, Cox Radio, Atlanta
Radio Programming
Charlie Cook, Cumulus Media, Atlanta, Ga.
Becky Brenner, KMPS-FM, CBS Seattle, Wash.
Record Company
Mike Dungan, Capitol Nashville
Luke Lewis, UMG Nashville
Talent Agent
Rick Shipp, William Morris Agency
Talent Buyer/Promoter
Steve Moore, AEG Live!
Steve Buchanan, Gaylord Entertainment Co.
Television/Video
Ed Hardy, Great American Country (GAC)
Affiliated
Charlie Anderson, Anderson Merchandisers, Knoxville, Tenn.
Kitty Moon Emery, Moll Anderson Home
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
Amy Abrahams, Weiden+Kennedy, New York, NY
Bill Bennett, Warner Bros. Records
Scott Borchetta, Big Machine Records
Connie Bradley, ASCAP
Marc Chase, Clear Channel, Cincinnati, Ohio
Barry Coburn, Ten Ten Music Group, Inc.
Tony Conway, Buddy Lee Attractions
Tim DuBois, Tim DuBois Productions
Joe Galante, Sony BMG Records Nashville
Troy Gentry, Montgomery Gentry
Randy Goodman, Lyric Street Records
John Grady, Red Light Management
Lon Helton, Country Aircheck
Dann Huff, Crosstown Songs
John Huie, Creative Artist Agency
Wade Jessen, Billboard/Radio & Records
TK Kimbrell, T.K.O. Artist Management
Kim Kosak, Chevrolet Motor Division, General Motors, Detroit, Mich.
Ken Levitan, Vector Management
Eric Logan, XM Satellite Radio, Inc., Washington, D.C.
JD May, echomusic
Deb McDermott, Young Broadcasting
Mike Moore, KWJJ-FM Entercom Communications, Portland, OR
Curt Motley, Paradigm
Brian O’Connell, Live Nation
Sue Peterson, Target Stores, Minneapolis, Minn.
Brian Philips, CMT-Country Music Television
Rob Potts, Rob Potts Entertainment Edge, Sydney, Australia
John Rich, Big & Rich
LeAnn Rimes
David Ross, Music Row Publications, Inc.
Victor Sansone, Citadel Radio Atlanta (WKHX-FM and WYAY-FM)
Steve Schnur, Electronic Arts, Playa Vista, Calif.
Victoria Shaw, AvaRu Music
Mike Smardak, Outback concerts of Tennessee, Inc.
Clarence Spalding, Spalding Entertainment, LLC
Troy Tomlinson, Sony/ATV Music Publishing
Trey Turner, Turner & Nichols and Associates
Jeff Walker, AristoMedia/Marco Promotions
Rusty Walker, Rusty Walker Programming Consultant, Inc., Iuka, Miss.
Jody Williams, BMI
Tim Wipperman, Equity Music Group
Mark Wright, Universal Records South
Jim Yerger, Broken Bow Records
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. The organization’s objectives are to guide and enhance the growth of Country Music and to demonstrate it as a viable medium to advertisers, consumers, and the media through its core initiatives – CMA Music Festival, which is held each June and featured as part of a primetime special on the ABC Television Network, and the CMA Awards, which will be held at the Sommet Center in Nashville on Wednesday, Nov. 7 (8:00-11:00 PM/ET) and carried live by ABC.
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For information about CMA and its initiatives, visit CMAworld.com.