CMA Adds Two Staffers

The Country Music Association has hired two staffers to support key strategic initiatives. Milly Olykan will join CMA as Vice President of International Relations and Development, furthering the association’s global expansion initiatives, and Falon Keith has joined CMA as Grant Associate, continuing to support and grow CMA’s philanthropic arm, the CMA Foundation.

“Expanding the reach of country music globally has long been our focus at CMA,” said Sarah Trahern, CMA Chief Executive Officer. “We created this role to help focus and escalate these efforts on behalf of our industry. Our staff, community and Board of Directors have worked closely with Milly since the inception of C2C in 2013. We’re thrilled to welcome her to CMA, where she will no doubt hit the ground running and continue to expand country music to an even larger global audience.”

Olykan comes to CMA from AEG Presents in London, where she was Vice President of Live Music and Major Arena Events. For AEG she developed in-house commercial content for The O2 and was the founding Festival Director and Co-Promoter of C2C Country to Country. Other projects for AEG included her management of Sundance Film and Music Festival, the first Sundance Film Festival outside of the United States, and the launching of numerous events including BRITs Week, Hola! London and Country Music Week. Prior to AEG Presents, Olykan worked in artist management, promotion, and tour management where she produced festivals for IMG Artists and booked tours for Universal Music. She was awarded the Jo Walker Meador International Award in March, and has served on the CMA Board since 2014. She’ll begin her new role at CMA in mid-May where she will report to Trahern and be based in Nashville.

Keith joins CMA from the YMCA of Middle Tennessee where she supported the charitable efforts of the YMCA’s development team as Philanthropy Administrator. Prior to the YMCA, Keith served as Communications Intern at Make-A-Wish Middle Tennessee, assisting in social media development. In her new role, she manages the CMA Foundation’s relationships with grant recipients and assists in supporting Foundation efforts and events. Keith is a native of York, Pennsylvania and graduated from Western Kentucky University with a degree in Public Relations and a minor in Sales. Keith reports to CMA Director of Community Outreach Tiffany Kerns.