"The trailblazing women executives who are celebrated in these pages aren't just leading the music industry -- they're transforming it," writes Hillary Clinton in her introduction to Billboard's annual Women In Music issue. The people below are leaders across every facet of the industry; consider Marcie Allen's transformative brand work, Jody Gerson's historic appointment to the top of Universal Music Publishing's C-suite, Michelle Jubelirer's indispensable ears and eyes at the Capitol Tower. Taken together they form the bedrock of the business. Congratulations -- and thanks.
EMMA BANKS
Co-head of international touring/co-head of CAA Music London, Creative Artists Agency
CAROLE KINZEL
Agent, Creative Artists Agency
MARLENE TSUCHII
Co-head of international touring, Creative Artists Agency
Banks and Tsuchii, based in London and Los Angeles, respectively, co-manage international touring for CAA, an increasingly important part of the agency's business. Banks worked on Katy Perry's Prismatic World Tour and guided up-and-comer Hozierto major festival spots, while Tsuchii is plotting Justin Bieber's 2016 global itinerary, after working in 2015 for such Billboard Boxscore leaders as Foo Fighters and Ariana Grande. Meanwhile, Kinzel helped her client Lana Del Rey set multiple venue records on her summer tour of amphitheaters.
SARA NEWKIRK SIMON, 38
Partner/co-head of music department, William Morris Endeavor
SAMANTHA KIRBY YOH
Partner, William Morris Endeavor
New York-based Kirby Yoh (left) and Los Angeles-based Newkirk Simon scout opportunities for their diverse clientele on both coasts. Kirby Yoh, who manages WME's New York music team, cites the recent launch of the M2M fashion channel on Apple TV by WME and its affiliated IMG agency as a new exposure opportunity for clients Florence & The Machine, Grimes, FKA Twigs and Alicia Keys. Division co-head Newkirk Simon guides Lady Gaga, Pharrell Williams and Selena Gomez with an eye on new career options; client Miguel has just joined the cast of the upcoming crime film Live by Night, starring Ben Affleck.
NATALIA NASTASKIN
Head of U.S. music operations, United Talent Agency
The former CEO of the Agency Group USA spent the summer negotiating the acquisition of her 2,200-client firm by United Talent Agency. "It's a major game-changer," says the New York-based Nastaskin, who opened a Miami office and created a college and casino booking division for her agency.
MARSHA VLASIC
President, Artist Group International
A veteran agent with a loyal client list of superstars and critically acclaimed acts (Neil Young, Elvis Costello, Muse, Regina Spektor, The Strokes,Band of Horses), Vlasic still seeks out additions to her roster. "There's always room for one more, especially when you're a Jewish mother," says the Brooklyn native. Highlights of her year included Young's tour backed by Promise of the Real (the band led by Willie Nelson's son Lukas) and Costello's Detour Tour.
CAROLINE YIM, 37
Concerts agent, ICM Partners
Under Yim's guidance, Kehlani Parrish -- the 20-year-old former America's Got Talent contestant -- embarked on her first solo tour. The Los Angeles native also has orchestrated road runs for Kendrick Lamar (13 intimate shows), The Internet (40 cities domestically), Earl Sweatshirt (62 cities) and duoRae Sremmurd (with 155 dates booked). "This is my music," says the UCLA alumna. "I've been a hip-hopper from day one."
MARCIE ALLEN, 42
President, MAC Presents
Allen flies weekly between her home in Nashville and office in New York, which helps explain why she saw the potential in an airline-artist partnership. Among the deals her team brokered this year were a Southwest Airlines tour sponsorship for Imagine Dragons, including an in-flight concert. Thanks to diversification with clients like Microsoft Windows, revenue is up 20 percent over 2014 to a record eight figures, and Allen will begin 2016 by rolling out a Sundance Film Festival programming partnership in January with the venue Park City Live. She also promises a "breakthrough summer festival strategy" with a major beer brand.
JENNIFER BREITHAUPT, 43
Global head of entertainment, Citi
Selling millions of tickets to its credit-card holders, Citi has partnered with more than 1,400 artists and bands and 11,000 events in 21 countries in 2015, including a majority of the year's top tours, says Breithaupt. The brand, which one informed source estimates is working with a $100 million budget -- Citi doesn't disclose this information -- and has seen double-digit year-to-year growth in ticket sales and U.S. ticket revenue, also is focused on creating opportunities for fans "who may never leave the house," like Yahoo's concert-a-day series, explains Breithaupt. For 2016, she and Citi are working on technology to identify card holders in venues and give them "special access to artists" as the ultimate door prize.
DEBORAH CURTIS
Vp global sponsorships and experiential marketing, American Express
In 2015, Curtis delivered presale access for American Express card holders to tours by The Rolling Stones, Fleetwood Mac, Kenny Chesney,Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift. With Swift's team, she created the Emmy-winning Amex Unstaged Taylor Swift Experience app, which included an interactive video of "Blank Space." (One industry insider put the deal at $3 million to $5 million.) Newer acts have received a boost from Amex Unstaged Artists in Residence, which has showcased Børns, Rae Sremmurd and Pia Mia.
SARA CLEMENS, 44
Chief strategy officer, Pandora
Clemens and her team have spent the last year positioning Pandora to better compete in the digital marketplace. In November, the company acquired some of the assets of Rdio for $75 million with the intention of entering the on-demand subscription marketplace with Spotify, Apple and YouTube. In October, it spent $450 million on Ticketfly, which will allow artists to sell concert tickets directly to Pandora listeners. "There was a crew of probably more than 100 people that leaned in to get this done," the New Zealand native says of the deal.
TAMARA HRIVNAK, 39
Director/head of Americas music partnerships, Google Play/YouTube
VIVIEN LEWIT
Director/global head of artist relations, YouTube/Google Play
HEATHER MOOSNICK, 43
Director/head of label partnerships (Americas), YouTube
Through complementary roles at Google, these three women are driving the tech giant's digital music strategy for YouTube and Google Play. Hrivnak focuses on partnerships with hardware manufacturers, telecommunication firms and retailers, as well as labels and music publishers. Lewit prepped the November launches of subscription service YouTube Red and the YouTube Music app. Moosnick, a veteran of digital roles at MTV and Warner Music, secured the label licenses for YouTube Red.
KATIE SCHLOSSER
Senior director of label relations for North America, Spotify
As Spotify has grown from 15 million to 60 million listeners during the past five years, Schlosser, an alumna of the Berklee College of Music, has worked "to generate meaningful artist success stories." This year, for instance, EDM group Major Lazer racked up 38 million streams of its single "Lean On" -- landing it at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 -- after Spotify orchestrated "a concerted marketing push," she says.
MONICA ESCOBEDO, 38
Entertainment producer, ABC News/Good Morning America
Escobedo did her part in the perpetual ratings battle for network morning-show supremacy by amping up GMA's summer concert series lineup.Jason Derulo's June 12 gig scored particularly big, attracting 5.1 million viewers -- the highest Nielsen numbers of the series -- and translated to the kind of exposure that's increasingly difficult for an artist to get from a single appearance: Sales of his album Everything Is 4 jumped 20 percent afterward. Escobedo also orchestrated special coverage of One Direction in conjunction with the release of its new album,Made in the A.M. Says the UCLA graduate: "It's all about creating those television moments."
JULIE GUROVITSCH, 33
Talent executive for music, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
LINDSAY SHOOKUS, 35
Producer, Saturday Night Live
When it comes to music, SNL and The Tonight Show are the most influential shows in late night, and Gurovitsch (left) and Shookus are their gatekeepers. Shortly after Gurovitsch booked blues rockers Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats' national TV debut on Aug. 5 at Fallon's request, streaming of the band's single, "S.O.B.," jumped 279 percent to 173,000 plays, according to Nielsen Music. And when Shookus, who leads a team of three other bookers, landed Miley Cyrus for SNL’s fall premiere on Oct. 3, the show saw a 14-percent ratings boost over the 2014 season debut. They make it look easy, but Shookus, who has been an SNL producer since 2010, says, "You get one chance to make the right impression. And people have long memories when you make the wrong one."
DEBRA LEE, 61
Chairman/CEO, BET Networks
Lee acknowledges it has been a tough year, characterized by layoffs and restructuring that rocked BET parent company Viacom. "But it hasn't slowed us down," she says. Despite a 1.4 million dip in viewers in 2015, music tentpole the BET Awards still ranks as cable's No. 1 awards telecast. The third annual BET Experience festival was another success: Attendance was up 36 percent (150,000-plus), and the event has been renewed through 2018.
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