Diane Pearson has been elected president of the Leadership Music board for the 2026-27 fiscal year, a role she has held once before. Pearson came through the organisation as a member of its Class of 2007 and works as Senior Vice President of the Entertainment and Sports Division at City National Bank Nashville. MusicRow's Lauryn Sink reported the election on August 27.
Her own framing is about the alumni rather than the title. Leadership Music is an organisation she cares deeply about, she said, and she described being continually inspired by the passion and generosity of the people who have come through it.
The officer slate around her is settled. Steve Eggart of Ground Control Business Management is president-elect. Neal Spielberg of Spielberg Entertainment moves to past president. Catherine Moore of Farris, Self and Moore is treasurer, and Jackie Patillo of the Gospel Music Association is secretary.
The rest of the executive committee runs across the trade: veteran agent Brad Bissell, Andrew Kautz of Kautz and Associates, Manuel Delgado of Delgado Guitars, Scott Gerow of Battery Lane Music, Tera Healy of The Recording Academy and Rondal Richardson of the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee. Will Cheek and Lynn Morrow of Adams and Reese serve as legal counsel.
Four directors are new this year, and the list reads like a map of where power sits in the business: Mitch Glazier of the RIAA, Scott Jungmichel of SESAC, Stacy Blythe of Big Loud Records and Kris Ahrend of The Mechanical Licensing Collective.
Leadership Music has now graduated 1,400 people from across the entertainment industry, and the alumni network reaches past music into local government: two Nashville mayors, a deputy chief of police and a Tennessee congressman have come through the programme. Board seasons are turning over elsewhere too, as with the CCMA naming its directors for 2026 and 2027, while the city itself keeps shifting under the industry, most recently when TikTok shut its Music Row office and John Rich warned that property taxes are squeezing local venues. New companies keep arriving anyway, among them By Design, which has signed its first five songwriters.
The facts
- Pearson serves as board president for the 2026-27 fiscal year
- She is an SVP at City National Bank Nashville and a Class of 2007 member
- Steve Eggart of Ground Control Business Management is president-elect
- Four new directors join from the RIAA, SESAC, Big Loud and The MLC
- Leadership Music has graduated 1,400 people since it began
- Alumni include two Nashville mayors and a Tennessee congressman
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