CMA Promotes Five

The Country Music Association has revealed several promotions across its teams and departments…

Pictured (L-R, top row): Michelle Kirk, Sydnie Hickey and Reuben Schwartz. (L-R, bottom row): Ansley Carlson and Katie Karl

The Country Music Association has revealed several promotions across its teams and departments.

Michelle Kirk has been promoted to Executive Director of the CMA Foundation, moving up from her previous role as Senior Director. Kirk now oversees the CMA Foundation and its team, leading its work in music education, fundraising, partnerships and community programs. She also works with educators, community organizations and members of the country music industry to expand access to music education.

Kirk joined CMA in 2012 as Strategic Partnerships Coordinator and later became Senior Manager of Strategic Partnerships. She left the organization in 2015 to become a Brand Partnerships Agent at WME before returning to CMA in 2019 as Director of Integrated Marketing. She later served as Senior Director of Integrated Marketing before joining the CMA Foundation as Senior Director. She can be reached here .

“Michelle has spent her career building relationships that move this industry, and she brings that same instinct to the CMA Foundation every day,” says Brittany Schaffer , CMA Incoming Chief Executive Officer. “Her work with the music education community and the Country Music industry has strengthened the CMA Foundation's impact for students, teachers and education partners across the country. Michelle leads with heart and a clear strategic vision, and I'm thrilled to see her step into this role.”

Sydnie Hickey has been elevated to Director of Lifecycle Marketing, moving up from her previous role as Senior Manager of Email Marketing. In her new position, Hickey will oversee CMA’s email and SMS marketing efforts, using audience data and personalized strategies to strengthen fan engagement. She will lead strategy, design and copy direction while supporting major initiatives including the CMA Awards, CMA Fest, CMA membership and the CMA Foundation. Her work will focus on growing and retaining CMA’s audience, while also supporting ticket marketing, fan engagement and first-party data efforts.

Hickey joined CMA in 2022 after serving as Marketing Growth Manager at Grace Management Group. She previously worked in venue marketing at Bon Secours Wellness Arena and the University of Rhode Island. She can be reached here .

“Sydnie has played an integral role in evolving how CMA connects with our audiences,” shares Catherine Frizzell , CMA Vice President, Marketing. “From expanding our lifecycle marketing efforts across email, SMS, ticketing and fan engagement to helping us make smarter use of audience data to drive meaningful results. She has a unique ability to identify opportunities, build solutions collaboratively, and connect the work back to our broader business goals. I’m incredibly proud of Sydnie’s growth and excited to see her continue to expand her leadership and impact in this new role.”

Reuben Schwartz has been upped to Director of Business Intelligence, moving up from his previous role as Senior Manager of Business Intelligence. In his new position, Schwartz will continue overseeing CMA’s data warehouse, CRM and dashboards while helping guide the organization’s data systems and processes. He will also lead the cross-departmental Data Architecture group, supporting data-driven decision-making across CMA.

Schwartz joined CMA in 2023 after working as Manager of Business Strategy and Intelligence for the Nashville Predators. He previously held analyst roles with Finch Brands and MarketCast. He can be reached here .

“Reuben has become instrumental in how CMA collects, manages, and activates data across the organization,” adds Michael Farris , CMA Vice President, Business Strategy and Insights. “In his first two and a half years at CMA, he's evolved our entire data tech stack and championed how every department distills value from our data ecosystem. His ability to build trusted partnerships across every team, manage key vendor relationships, and develop the people around him has made him an indispensable leader."

Additionally, Ansley Carlson has been promoted to Account Executive, Brand Partnerships and Katie Karl has been elevated to Senior Manager, Ticketing. Carlson can be reached here and Karl here .