Leadership Music Makes Staff Changes For Upcoming Program Year

Stewart (Photo: Belmont.edu)

NASHVILLE-based music industry education and networking program LEADERSHIP MUSIC has made staff changes for its upcoming program year. Following the JANUARY retirement of longtime Mgr./Communications and Events JUDI TURNER, Program Facilitator LIZ ALLEN FAY will also step down with the spring graduation of the LEADERSHIP MUSIC Class of 2022. Dr. SARITA STEWART will succeed FAY in her role of Facilitator, starting in OCTOBER.

STEWART is the Associate Professor/Creative and Entertainment Industries at the MIKE CURB COLLEGE OF ENTERTAINMENT AND MUSIC BUSINESS at NASHVILLE's BELMONT UNIVERSITY, and a member of the LEADERSHIP MUSIC Class of 2017. She began her career as a receptionist at CURB RECORDS in LOS ANGELES, and transferred to CURB's NASHVILLE headquarters in 1994 as Dir./Marketing. STEWART began teaching at BELMONT in 2005 as an adjunct professor, and went on sabbatical leave in 2009 to earn her Ph.D. in Communication at the UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA.

TURNER, a well-known NASHVILLE music publicist, graduated from the LEADERSHIP MUSIC program in 1996, and volunteered before joining the staff in 2012. TURNER started her own PR firm, TURNER AND COMPANY, in 1992. Her career also includes time at the COUNTRY MUSIC ASSOCIATION (CMA) and NETWORK INK PUBLIC RELATIONS. She was a writer for the COUNTRY MUSIC HALL OF FAME AND MUSEUM before being by LEADERSHIP MUSIC.

FEY, who is CEO of STRATEGY AND LEADERSHIP, LLC, was the first female in LEADERSHIP MUSIC history to serve in the Program Facilitator role, which she began in 2014 after graduating from the program.

“JUDI has been the backbone of the LEADERSHIP MUSIC program for many years, and she will be greatly missed, but we wish her much happiness and relaxation in her well-deserved retirement," said LEADERSHIP MUSIC Executive Dir. DEB LINN. "Similarly, since 2014, L.A. FEY has been an integral part of each program day, and class members have learned to look to her to provide focus and challenge them to consider the issues from every angle. Hers are big shoes to fill, but we know SARITA is up to the challenge. We look forward to working with her when we welcome the Class of 2023.”

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