BREAKING: Cindy Mabe Exits Post At UMG Nashville

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Cindy Mabe. Photo: Kevin Wimpy

Cindy Mabe has exited her position as Chair & CEO of Universal Music Group Nashville after two years in the role and more than 18 with the company, according to reports by Country Aircheck and Billboard. UMG Nashville representatives did not respond to requests for comment.

During her tenure at UMG, Mabe has helped guide and grow the careers of some of country music’s biggest stars, including Luke Bryan, Eric Church, Jordan Davis, Mickey Guyton, Sam Hunt, Alan Jackson, Parker McCollum, Reba McEntire, Kacey Musgraves, Jon Pardi, Chris Stapleton, George Strait, Carrie Underwood, Keith Urban, Brothers Osborne and Little Big Town, among countless others. She has earned multiple honors, including the Country Music Hall of Fame’s Louise Scruggs Memorial Forum Award and the SOURCE Hall of Fame Award.

Mabe succeeded Mike Dungan, who retired from the company after more than a decade in the role in 2023.

A North Carolina native, Mabe attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and graduated from Belmont University in Nashville with a B.S. in Business Administration. She bagan her career as promotions coordinator at RCA Nashville, before shifting to sales and then artist marketing and development. She later served as Senior Director of Marketing and Artist Development at Arista Records Nashville from 1999-2007 before joining Capitol Records.

Mabe spent five years at Capitol Records Nashville, where she held the position of SVP of Marketing and played an integral role in the long-term creative and commercial success of the label. She joined UMG Nashville in 2012 as Senior Vice President of Marketing, where she was responsible for leading marketing across UMG’s expanded suite of country labels following its acquisition of EMI.

Mabe is one of Music Row’s most esteemed executives. She became Nashville’s highest-ranking woman label executive in 2014 when she was appointed as UMG Nashville President, and she made history again by becoming the first woman to serve as Chair and CEO of a Nashville-based major label group.

LB Cantrell
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