BMI Announces Key Promotions Within Creative Team

BMI today announced a series of key promotions within the company’s Creative team. Rafael Martinez and John Ellwood have been appointed to newly created roles as Vice President, Strategy and Business Affairs, Creative, and Assistant Vice President, Strategy and Business Affairs, Creative, respectively. Reema Iqbal was named Executive Director, Creative, Film, TV & Visual Media and LuAnn Davidson was elevated to Executive Director, Creative Administration. Nina Carter has been promoted to Senior Director, Creative, Partnerships & Events and Jon Miller was named Director, Creative, Europe. Katie Kilgallen and Reginald Stewart have both been elevated to Director, Creative.

As Vice President, Strategy and Business Affairs, Creative, Martinez will be responsible for developing and executing new business strategies and processes around BMI’s relationships with its affiliates, as well as helping build the company’s global market share across all genres.  He will also continue to help acquire new songwriters and publishers while also maintaining existing affiliate relationships. Martinez originally joined BMI in 2014 as a Director of Business Affairs and was promoted to Assistant Vice President, Business Affairs and Creative in 2019.  During his tenure at BMI, he has also worked closely with the Creative teams to affiliate and retain top songwriters across multiple genres, notably J Balvin, Juice WRLD, Kendrick Lamar, Marshmello, Megan Thee Stallion, Lil Nas X, Pop Smoke, Rosalía and Sam Smith, among others. Martinez is based in New York and reports to BMI’s Executive Vice President, Creative and Licensing, Mike Steinberg.

As Assistant Vice President, Strategy and Business Affairs, Creative, Ellwood will work closely with Martinez, to whom he reports, on developing and executing BMI’s business strategies in the Creative department.  He will also continue to provide business and legal support during contract negotiations with new and existing songwriters, composers and publishers. Since joining BMI in 2007, Ellwood has held various roles in the company’s legal department, including Senior Attorney and most recently Assistant Vice President, Legal, prior to assuming his current role. He is based out of BMI’s New York headquarters.

In announcing these new positions, Steinberg commented, “Both Rafael and John have regularly gone the extra mile in determining the best course of action on behalf of BMI’s creative community.  Rafael has earned an esteemed reputation for his deep understanding of the performing rights landscape as well as his stellar service to our affiliates. John’s legal expertise and exceptional dedication have also been invaluable and will tremendously benefit our songwriters, composers and publishers in his new role.” Steinberg added, “I’m also incredibly excited to be announcing several other well-deserved promotions from within BMI’s Creative department. Each of these valuable team members has made outstanding contributions that have supported BMI’s status as the global leader in music rights management.  I’m confident that this team will continue to excel and effectively serve our affiliates across all genres.”

As Executive Director, Creative, Film, TV & Visual Media, Iqbal will continue working closely with BMI’s many notable composers and songwriters in the film, TV & visual media space. She will also help identify new talent and educate aspiring composers on the mechanics of performance royalties in the evolving audio-visual media landscape. She will also help develop and facilitate composer-centric opportunities to showcase the creative works of BMI’s affiliates. Since joining BMI in 2011, she has supported and educated the emerging creative community through speaking engagements at music programs at NYU, Berklee, University of Miami, among others, and has served as co-director of the BMI Foundation’s Pete Carpenter Fellowship, a competitive residency for aspiring film, television, and video game composers, for the past two years. She reports to BMI’s newly named Vice President, Creative, Film, TV & Visual Media, Tracy McKnight, and is based in BMI’s Los Angeles office.

Davidson has been promoted to Executive Director, Creative Administration, where she will continue leading the Nashville Creative administration team in supporting the ever-growing community of songwriters and publishers. Her responsibilities include working directly with affiliates on royalty distribution issues and registering their musical works, as well as helping to facilitate events that celebrate Nashville’s creative community, such as the annual BMI Country Awards dinner. As Senior Director, Creative, Partnership & Events, Carter will continue to spearhead strategic partnerships and sponsorships for BMI events including #1 parties, conferences, showcases and festivals where she has been instrumental in establishing BMI’s presence and stages, such as SXSW, Lollapalooza and Austin City Limits, to name a few. Davidson reports to BMI’s Vice President, Creative, Nashville, Clay Bradley and Carter reports to AVP, Creative, Mason Hunter, and both are based out of Nashville. Miller has been elevated to Director, Creative, Europe where he will continue to lead the charge in affiliating new songwriters, composers and music publishers and maintaining BMI’s presence across Europe in addition to being an essential part of BMI’s special events in London, UK including the BMI London Awards, Speed Dating for Songwriters™, BMI showcases and other industry events.  He will remain based in BMI’s London office and will report to BMI’s Vice President of Wordwide Creative, Barbara Cane.

Kilgallen and Stewart were each named Director, Creative, in New York and Atlanta, respectively. In these elevated roles, they will assist with general affiliate inquiries and outreach, educating emerging songwriters on BMI’s services and initiatives, and will remain integral in coordinating multiple BMI events and special projects. Kilgallen spearheads many events for the Pop and Indie genres including monthly BMI Acoustic Lounge showcases, various songwriting camps, Speed Dating for Songwriters™, the BMI stages at Lollapalooza, Austin City Limits, SXSW and more, as well as hosting BMI 101, an informational webinar for developing songwriters and composers. She also serves as co-chair of BMI’s Women @ BMI Employee Resource Group. Kilgallen will continue reporting to BMI Vice President, Creative, New York, Samantha Cox. Stewart will continue his work with the R&B/Hip-Hop and Gospel genres, helping to facilitate several initiatives including BMI’s R&B/Hip-Hop Awards, Trailblazers of Gospel Music Awards, and BMI’s showcase series, Know Them Now. He also leads special events and outreach that support BMI’s music creators including listening events, celebratory dinners, speaking engagements and community initiatives and serves as Co-Chair of BMI’s Black Network Employee Resource Group. Stewart reports to Vice President, Creative, Atlanta, Catherine Brewton.