March 19th, 2018 – New York, NY – A2IM (The American Association of Independent Music) would like to welcome two new staff members to its team, and congratulate several others on their well-earned promotions.
“It is incredibly exciting to witness the growth that A2IM has achieved over the past couple of years. Working as a tight-knit group toward our common vision of an equitable music industry for all, the team member’s individual strengths are undeniably impressive, but combined they are unstoppable.” – Richard James Burgess, CEO of A2IM
New hires are Ross Ford, as Manager, Systems and Analytics, and Courtnay Newman, as Coordinator, Member Services. Ford, who started in January of this year, has an extensive background in IT and has a creative-side making music and building, modifying and collecting guitar effects pedals.
Newman, who began working at A2IM in February 2018, previously worked with indie label, Razor & Tie as well as Relevent Sports, where she worked with international soccer teams such as Manchester United and Liverpool on the Guinness International Champions Cup.
Marcus Assenmacher is now Senior Manager, Events from his previous position as Operations Manager. Marcus takes the lead for most tenured staffer with #TeamA2IM, having joined the organization in August 2014 and he has been responsible for producing the A2IM Libera Awards presented by SoundExchange since he joined and plans to expand our yearly events.
Sheryl Cohen has been promoted to Director, Culture and Oversight from her previous position as Manager of Admin and Special Projects. Since coming on board in March 2016, Sheryl has been working behind the scenes to curate educational content including programming webinars and workshops, and spearheading Indie Week on top of overseeing #TeamA2IM financials and administration.
Patrick Ferrell has been promoted to Director, Member Services from his previous position as Member Relations Manager. In his time since joining A2IM in April 2016, Ferrell has been responsible for increasing the organization’s Label Membership 48%, bringing in over 200 new independent labels to the A2IM community. Patrick has also increased A2IM’s visibility and promoted the organization’s mission via speaking engagements at ADE, CD Baby’s DIY Conference, Folk Alliance International, iHeart Music Summits, Music Biz, SXSW, and more.
Lisa Hresko has been promoted to Senior Manager, Member Services and International Relations from her previous role as Associate Member Relations Manager. Lisa oversees A2IM Associate Membership, grown our presence with our international partners, spoken at four premiere industry conferences in three countries and facilitated over 2,000 meetings for A2IM membership at our keystone events L.A. SynchUp, Indie Week and SXSW since joining the organization in February 2017. Lisa brings nearly a decade of event experience in helping grow A2IM flagship event Indie Week, and she also runs A2IM’s Licensing and Publishing Committee.
Sky McElroy has been promoted to Director, Brand Partnerships from his previous role as Brand Partnerships Manager. Since his start with A2IM in September 2016, McElroy has lead 28% of year-over-year growth in sponsorships for A2IM.
Alexandra Rosen has been promoted to to Senior Manager, Communications from her previous role as Marketing Manager. Since starting A2IM in May 2016, she completely rebranded the organization within her first year, amplifying A2IM’s public presence by over 900%. Alex has also spearheaded the A2IM Independent’s Month program, which highlights independent music the entire month of June across the U.S.
About A2IM:
A2IM is a 501(c)(6) not-for-profit trade organization headquartered in New York City that exists to support and strengthen the independent recorded music sector. Membership currently includes a broad coalition of more than 550 Independently-owned American music labels. A2IM represents these independently owned small and medium-sized enterprises’ (SMEs) interests in the marketplace, in the media, on Capitol Hill, and as part of the global music community. In doing so, it supports a key segment of America’s creative class that represents America’s diverse musical cultural heritage. Billboard Magazine identified the Independent music label sector as 37.32 percent of the music industry’s U.S. recorded music sales market in 2016 based on copyright ownership, making Independent labels collectively the largest music industry sector.
The organization’s board of directors consists of the following: ATO Vice President Stephanie Alexa, President of Concord Music Group Glen Barros, Redeye Co-Owner Glenn Dicker, INgrooves EVP & General Manager Amy Dietz, Co-President of Mom+Pop Music Thaddeus Rudd, Big Machine COO Andrew Kautz, Beggars Group Founder/CEO Martin Mills, Hopeless Records Owner Louis Posen, Kill Rock Stars President Portia Sabin, Secretly Label Group Co-Owner Darius Van Arman and Razor & Tie President Vic Zaraya.
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Kiva Kamerling
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