Sarah Trahern To Helm CMA

NASHVILLE, TN (CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — The Country Music Association's Board of Directors has named music and television industry veteran Sarah Trahern to the post of Chief Executive Officer, as of January 1st, 2014.

Mrs. Trahern has more than 27 years of experience in the network television business, 18 years of it producing or overseeing Country Music programming. As Senior Vice President and General Manager of Scripps Networks Interactive’s GAC, Great American Country, she oversaw a range of operations at the network, including programming, marketing, creative, and digital.

A native of Champaign-Urbana, Mrs. Trahern moved to Nashville in 1995 to oversee specials and entertainment series for TNN. She began her cable career at C-SPAN in Washington, D.C. covering politics and public affairs and producing the popular series “Booknotes.” She joined GAC in 2005 with Scripps’ ownership of the network. She was promoted to SVP of Programming and in 2010, General Manager of the network.

In December 2011, she was the subject and honoree of the Louise Scruggs Memorial Forum at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. She was recently recognized by Source as a leader in the music business.

Trahern is a graduate of Georgetown University and has an MBA from the Owen Graduate School of Management at Vanderbilt.

"I look forward to collaborating with the Board, the management team, staff, and the membership to continue to grow our genre in multiple arenas. It’s an exciting and dynamic time in the Country Music business with tremendous growth opportunities as well as an ever changing marketplace. The ratings success of the CMA Awards last week is indicative of the strength of our genre across multiple demographic groups,” Trahern said in a statement. – Staff Writers