NASHVILLE (CelebrityAccess) — The Country Music Association announced the promotion of two senior team members to strategic roles within the company.
Emily Evans, who previously served as Senior Director, Strategic Partnerships, has been promoted to the role of Vice President, Strategic Initiatives at the CMA. In her new role, Evans will oversee programs that support the CMA’s mission of promoting country music, including the CMA Songwriters Series, CMA KixStart Artist Scholarship, various CMA industry task forces. She will also oversee the implementation of a company-wide CRM program, the CMA said.
In addition, Evans will continue to lead all integrated marketing efforts with the CMA’s network partner ABC. Evans, who joined the CMA in 2014, previously held positions in the concert industry at st8tmnt, 13 Management, MAC Presents, and MAD Booking and Events.
Evans will continue to oversee her current team consisting of Michelle Kirk (Director, Integrated Marketing), Megan Sykes (Director, Sales Development & Strategy), Kevin Coffey (Senior Manager, Strategic Partnerships) and Lara Henley (Senior Manager, Strategic Partnerships), Brenden Oliver (Senior Manager, Awards & Strategic Initiatives) and Michael Farris (recently promoted to Business Intelligence Lead) will now report to Evans.
Tiffany Kerns, who joined the CMA in 2012, will continue to lead the organization’s nonprofit arm, the CMA Foundation, but her duties will expand to include the creation and implementation of the CMA’s community outreach initiatives including the CMA Foundation as well as CMA EDU, the organization’s collegiate development program.
She will also oversee CMA’s membership practices, retention and programming, including maintaining the integrity and transparency of the voting process for the organization’s annual Country Music Awards.
Before she joined the CMA, Kerns worked in the non-profit sector at the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. She is a 2018 Women in Music City Award recipient and led the CMA Foundation to receive the 2017 National Stand for Music Award supporting music education advocacy.
In addition to her current team consisting of Lindsey Jones (Project Manager, Community Outreach), Falon Keith (Grants Associate) and Kate Kaltenbach (recently promoted to Manager, Membership Engagement), Angela Strader (recently promoted to Manager, Board & Membership Services) will now report to Kerns.
“Both Emily and Tiffany have been key strategic leaders on our CMA team for a number of years,” says Sarah Trahern, CMA Chief Executive Officer. “Both possess a high level of integrity and are innovators in their respective fields. I’m pleased that both Emily and Tiffany will be interacting and engaging with our Country Music community and our CMA Board of Directors on a much deeper and more frequent level.”
