Exec Action: Pickett & Catino
• iHeartMedia has hired Donna Pickett as Executive Vice President of Marketing, Digital Products, effective immediately. Pickett arrives bearing a wealth of music direct marketing experience gained over 20 years at Time-Life, where as Senior Vice President she headed Subscriber Marketing for the music business, among many other Marketing and Management roles. Pickett was most recently Vice President of Performance Based Media at Cannella Response Television.
Pickett earned an MBA in Marketing from The George Washington University and bachelor’s degrees in Marketing and Economics from Virginia Tech. In her new position Pickett will report to Darren Davis, President of iHeartRadio and iHeartMedia Networks. She will also work closely with Chris Williams, Chief Product Officer for iHeartRadio, to align all marketing and product/programming efforts. The Marketing and Business Intelligence teams will report to Pickett, who will be based out of iHeartMedia’s New York office at 32 Avenue of the Americas.
• Congrats to Sony Music Nashville’s Jim Catino on his elevation from VP of A&R to the far more awesome position of Senior Vice President of A&R. Catino is a 22-year music industry pro who joined the label group in October of 2001. He continues to report to Sony Music Nashville Chairman & CEO Randy Goodman, who remarked, “Since arriving at Sony Music Nashville 21 months ago, I’ve been impressed with Jim’s ‘ears’ and sensibilities as well as the great team that he’s built around him. He’s always looking to do the right thing as it relates to the artists and their music and has been the driver of some of our great, early successes.”
Catino commented, “It has been an honor to be a part of the Sony family over the past 15 years. My A&R experiences have been so rewarding. I’m grateful to Randy for the opportunities he’s given me, particularly entrusting me with our A&R focus going forward.” He added, “We’re creating an exciting, fresh culture that is so artist and music friendly. Randy has allowed our A&R team to lead that charge in new ways.” In his enhanced role, Catino will continue to sign and develop artists with Sony Music Nashville’s three labels — Arista Nashville, Columbia Nashville and RCA Nashville, overseeing the A&R team which includes Sr. Director Taylor Lindsey, Associate Director John Johnson and A&R Rep Margaret Tomlin.
