Tiffany Kerns Earns Sr. VP Stripes At CMA, Among Three Other Promotions

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Pictured (clockwise): Michael Farris, Tiffany Kerns, Catharine McNelly and Ben Balch

The Country Music Association has announced the promotions of four staff members, including Tiffany Kerns, who has risen to Senior Vice President of Industry Relations & Philanthropy.

Additionally, Catharine McNelly has been elevated to Vice President of Communications, Ben Balch rises to Senior Director of Accounting & Financial Planning and Michael Farris has been promoted to Senior Director of Business Strategy & Insights.

“Tiffany, Catharine, Ben and Michael are all key strategic and forward-thinking leaders across a variety of teams at CMA,” says Sarah Trahern, CMA CEO. “They each display unwavering commitment to CMA’s mission while continuing to innovate and create solutions-based strategies in their respective fields.”

Kerns joined CMA in 2013 after spending time at the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. In her new role, she will continue overseeing the strategic direction and management of CMA Membership including operations, programming, events and the organization’s newly launched membership structure. Kerns will also continue shepherding Board of Directors activity and key CMA pipeline programs including CMA’s Women’s Leadership Academy, CMA’s collegiate programs (including CMA EDU and CMA’s Diversity & Inclusion Fellowship). Furthermore, she will continue leading CMA’s community building and outreach efforts, ensuring the development of key partners that elevate CMA’s message and drive support of the country music industry overall.

In addition to her executive role with Membership and Industry Relations, Kerns leads CMA’s philanthropic arm, the CMA Foundation, as Executive Director and reports to Trahern.

With her promotion, McNelly takes on a greater strategic role with communications and talent relations efforts across all of CMA’s events, programs and initiatives. She joined CMA in 2017 and oversees PR and media activity for CMA membership and organizational initiatives, as well as CMA television properties—the CMA Awards, CMA Fest and CMA Country Christmas—corporate/executive profiles and talent outreach. In addition to these efforts, McNelly also leads communication planning and media support for the CMA Foundation. McNelly reports to Senior Vice President, Marketing, Content & Communications Strategy, Kelly Striewski.

Balch, who joined CMA in 2013, will continue to oversee reporting and financial standing for both CMA and the CMA Foundation in his new role as Senior Director, Accounting & Financial Planning. Balch also manages the annual budget process and periodic forecasts, as well as coordination of the annual audit team with outside auditors. He performs the monthly General Ledger closing processes, reviewing and reconciling as well as the monthly closing processes for Accounts Payable and Accounts Receivable. Balch reports to Senior Vice President, Finance & Administration, Amy Smartt.

In his elevated position, Farris will further lead the Ticketing, Data Architecture and Insights teams. Responsible for ticket offerings, pricing, platform partners, sales strategies, ticket operations and the development of premium offerings, he serves as the lead ticketing strategist for all of CMA’s events. He will also continue to lead the creation and buildout of CMA’s data warehouse and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform as well as develop strategies for data sources, reporting and resources that support the growth and health of the country music industry worldwide. Farris reports to Vice President, Business Strategy & Operations, Emily Evans.

Reach Kerns at tkerns@cmaworld.com, McNelly at cmcnelly@cmaworld.com, Balch at bbalch@cmaworld.com and Farris at mfarris@cmaworld.com.

LB Cantrell
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