My Music Row Story: Leo33’s Katie Dean

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Kaite Dean

The “My Music Row Story” weekly column features notable members of the Nashville music industry selected by the MusicRow editorial team. These individuals serve in key roles that help advance and promote the success of our industry. This column spotlights the invaluable people that keep the wheels rolling and the music playing.

In 2022, Katie Dean became Label Head at Leo33, where she has driven the success of breakout artist Zach Top, leading him to his first top 10 single, CMA and ACM win and a sold-out 2025 tour.

Previously Dean held influential roles at AristoMedia, CMA, Music.com, Mediabase and Universal Music Group. As Director of Radio Marketing at UMG, she led successful campaigns for artists like Jordan Davis, Sam Hunt and Taylor Swift.

A native of Augusta, Georgia, Dean is a graduate of Appalachian State University with a degree in Music Industry Studies and minors in Guitar and Marketing. Dean also serves as an adjunct professor at Appalachian State University, sharing her industry expertise with future professionals. Her leadership has earned recognition, including Country Aircheck VP of the Year in 2019 and selection for the Leadership Music Class of 2014.

Photo: Courtesy of Dean

MusicRow: Where did you grow up?

I was born in Augusta, Georgia, but didn’t stay there long. I moved 15 times before I graduated high school. I lived all over the US — from Seattle to New Jersey, to Charlotte, to Chicago — all over the place.

My dad grew up with some economic challenges and he wanted to create a better life for us, financially speaking. So he was climbing the corporate ladder, and that’s what moved us around a lot.

When you think about those years, what were you into? What were you like?

Because I was constantly the new kid and had more “sitting by myself at the lunch table” kind of experiences than I care to remember, music was really an escape for me. I can very distinctly remember, especially when we lived in Seattle — that was a particularly tough one because it was high school — sitting up in my room in the afternoons, listening to albums, playing guitar and just using music as an outlet.

I have two sisters, and now we talk about how hard it was to form real attachments to anything or anyone as kids with all the moving. But now I frame that nomadic existence as a positive—I realize it helped me bloom where I was planted. I developed a lot of resilience and self-sufficiency as a result. And I’ve been to all 50 states and 5 continents, so I’ve gotten to see the world.

Photo: Courtesy of Dean

What were you listening to?

My all-time favorite band is Heart. I wanted to be Nancy Wilson growing up. I’m 52 years old and still want to be Nancy Wilson.

My dad was a big country fan. As kids, we’d take road trips to visit my grandparents in North Carolina every summer. We’d load up the station wagon — two Black Labs, me and my sisters and mom, with my dad always playing The Statler Brothers or the Oak Ridge Boys. We’d be screaming from the backseat, “Can we listen to Prince or Madonna or something?”

I started to warm to country when my Dad got obsessed with King’s Record Shop by Rosanne Cash. He played “Tennessee Flat Top Box” on repeat for what felt like an entire year. One night, I turned on Austin City Limits and saw Mary Chapin Carpenter perform. She did a song called “Goodbye Again,” and I was so smitten that literally the next day, I went to the record store in Flemington, New Jersey, and bought her State of the Heart on cassette. I became a huge Mary Chapin Carpenter fan, which then led me to Trisha Yearwood, Reba, Patty—and set the stage for my move to Nashville.

Tell me about college.

I originally was planning to attend Florida State University and study music therapy, but changed my mind at the last minute and went to Elon College in North Carolina. I was undecided as a major but taking music courses. I came home on spring break my sophomore year, and dad sat me down and said, “They don’t have a major called ‘Rockstar.’ What exactly are you planning to do with your life?” At the time, he was looking at potentially buying a trucking company and wanted me to come work for him.

That was a pivotal moment because it was the first real adult conversation I had with him when I said, “That’s not my dream. I want to be in the music business.” I had no delusions about my acumen as a guitar player, but music was always the thing that fueled me. So then I studied up on who offered music business majors. I transferred to Appalachian State, which had just launched a music business program, and finished out there.

Photo: Courtesy of Dean

Then what?

From moving around so much, I wasn’t interested in LA and NY. I thought Nashville would be a place where I’d feel more comfortable — better quality of life — and frankly, I didn’t want to work with artists who might throw a milkshake at my head.

The day after graduation, I jumped in my Isuzu Rodeo, pointed west and started my internship at Aristo Media that Monday.

It was great to learn there. I showed up to work in my mother’s Talbots pantsuits, stuffing envelopes and videos. I loved how entrepreneurial [Aristo’s CEO/President] Jeff Walker was. He hustled for everything, and that really aligned with the work ethic my dad had instilled in me. Jeff hired me before my internship was even done. That was my first paying job. He was such a champion and a launching pad for me, as he was for so many other folks.

Photo: Courtesy of Dean

What was next?

After about two years, I moved over to CMA and worked in their international department — this was the mid-’90s, so it was the pre-streaming era. I mean, I had one of the first email addresses there.

It was an amazing experience for so many reasons – it kinda felt like a real live Melrose Place back then, but so many of my core adult friendships came from working there. And I got to travel, to Australia and Europe as part our initiatives to help build an international footprint for country.

After CMA, I went to a dot-com startup called music.com. That led to my first label job at Lyric Street.

Tell me about that.

That experience was really what instilled my love of labels and what they do for artists. Lyric Street was a startup, too, with SHeDAISY and Rascal Flatts on the roster. What I loved about it was that it was a small crew of really committed people who had to rely on each other. It was very much a “failure is not an option — this has to work” mentality.

I had been a little reluctant about working in promotion, but at that point, radio was still the primary driver for building superstars, and the promotion teams were in the thick of the action, making things happen. Truthfully some of them struck me as the used car salesmen of the business so it wasn’t appealing initially. But then I realized, if you get to talk about music all day, travel, champion artists and music you believe in, what could be a better job?

That led me to go work for Mediabase, which helped me understand how data played a role in the ecosystem. I did that for a couple of years but missed being in the heart of the action.

Photo: Courtesy of Dean

Then came UMG.

A friend of mine from the CMA days, Haley McLemore (now Haze) — was over at Mercury Records at that point as a regional. There was a job coming open at Universal, and she put my name in the hat.

Luke Lewis was honestly a guy that I revered. He had launched Lost Highway, and was signing the kind of artists I just adored, like Kim Richey. He was, to me, the pinnacle of label heads and he was over both MCA and Mercury at the time. The MCA roster was stacked with my favorite artists and every time I delivered packages to the 60 Music Square East building, I’d walk into the lobby and say to myself, “Someday I’m going to work here.”

When I got recommended for the job at Universal, I went over and met with Luke. I remember sitting across from him — he had a big surfboard behind his desk that Donavon Frankenreiter had given him, and I was so nervous I think I sweated through my entire shirt. But I got the job.

I joined UMG in June of 2005. I floated between the MCA and Mercury teams for a while as the Director of Radio Marketing and was promoted to VP two years after I started — a lot of that driven by Luke’s mentorship — and I sustained that role through the merger with EMI/Capitol.

It was the end of an era when Luke left, but I was already familiar with Mike Dungan and was a big fan of his as well. I stayed in that floating capacity across all four labels until I eventually picked up the reins at MCA in 2015 — which, again, was a bucket list dream realization for me. We were an all-female team — to my knowledge, the first of that configuration in Nashville, and maybe even across all genres. I’m just so proud of what we accomplished.

Photo: Courtesy of Dean

And you weren’t planning to leave, right?

No, I wasn’t planning to leave. I spent almost 18 years at Universal and thought I would retire there. Around the time word got around that Dungan was going to retire, I was approached about the opportunity to start Leo33.

It was a gut-wrenching decision. I agonized over it, truly, because our MCA team dynamic was so special. We were winning. We were breaking artists. We really cared about each other — and that’s something a lot of people never get to experience in the workplace.

But it had long been a dream of mine to run a label and if you want it, you must go after it. I felt like this was an opportunity that might not come around again. Huge credit to my wife, Paige, who reminded me that sometimes you have to go to grow, and I needed to take the leap of faith or I’d always regret it.

When did you know it was going to work?

When we first started, especially trying to get Zach [Top, our flagship artist] signed, there were a lot of sleepless nights.

Natalie Osborne saw Zach playing at Whiskey Jam and came into the office the next day raving about him. She played us all the music and my first thought was, “This is the kind of music that made me a country fan.” I flew down to Savannah to see him open for Dwight Yoakam, not having met him yet. After his set, during intermission, I headed out to the merch booth where Mike Doyle, his manager, was working. There was already a crowd forming and my default promo setting kicked in to run the meet and greet. When there was a break in the crowd, I said, “Hey, I’m Katie. I’m with Leo33. I came down to see you.” He said, “Oh! I was wondering who this overly helpful woman was.”

There was a courting process — we knew there were other labels pursuing him, and a few weeks later Daniel Lee and I were in our office lobby when I got the email that we were going to long-form with Zach. I screamed. Daniel picked me up and spun me around like some kind of Hallmark movie— we caused an entire scene.

Photo: Courtesy of Dean

Zach has taken off, winning an ACM Award last week, and you guys have continued to add to your roster. How does it feel to have taken off at this rate?

I’m so proud of how the launch plan was executed by the whole team and it all starts with the artist. Even though our team all have years of experience, as a brand new label, we knew we had a lot to prove. And it’s never lost on me that artists who sign here put their hopes and dreams in our hands. There’s no bigger motivator than that, and the hustle continues.

Who would you say have been your biggest mentors?

Luke Lewis and Mike Dungan. I’ve been fortunate to learn from quintessential record guys–people who truly made music the focus. Randy Goodman, as well.

What is some of the best advice you’ve ever gotten?

“Must be present to win.” In addition to putting in the work, cultivating relationships are huge – not only in this business, but for quality of life. The people who are with you during the highs and the lows mean a lot more than a chart position or plaques on the wall.

LB Cantrell
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