UMGN EVP Elevations For Christian & Femia
• Universal Music Group Nashville (UMGN) announced the promotions of Lori Christian to Executive Vice President of Marketing and Rob Femia to Executive Vice President of Business & Legal Affairs for the label group that consists of Capitol Records Nashville, EMI Records Nashville, Mercury Nashville, and MCA Nashville.
As EVP of Marketing, Christian will oversee UMGN’s Artist Development, Brands & Sponsorship, Creative Services, International Marketing, and Media Marketing departments. She originally rose to SVP of Marketing in 2020 after leading the publicity department at UMG Nashville since the 2012 merger of EMI and Universal Music Group. Christian previously oversaw the publicity department at Capitol Records Nashville and worked for Sony Music handling publicity for the RCA Records roster.
“Lori’s understanding of storytelling and weaving our artists narratives into framing their stories has been a critical element of UMGN’s success,” said UMGN Chair & CEO, Cindy Mabe. “Artist development is such a defining feature that separates our artists, especially in a world where everyone is looking for immediate gratification. Having Lori in this leadership role to help drive the key tenants of artist development across all of UMGN is going to change our artist growth strategy. I’m so excited to see how Lori leads and guides a new era in artist marketing across UMGN.”
Femia has over 15 years of experience practicing entertainment law, an extensive knowledge of the industry, and has fostered relationships with artists and their management teams. He joined UMG Nashville in 2013 as Head of Business & Legal Affairs, was upped to SVP in 2018. Femia is a graduate of Rutgers Law School and previously worked for Sony BMG, Virgin Records/Capitol Music Group/EMI Music North America, and Atlantic Records.
Mabe remarked, “It’s an honor to expand Rob’s leadership abilities beyond his vast business and legal knowledge. Rob has had a front seat in dealmaking for a while but as we expand the new goals of UMGN, Rob is helping to write and build the next era of Country music business. With the industry changing so rapidly, Rob is an essential partner to our future as Universal Music Group Nashville and his alignment and guidance of our staff and artists is critical to our success. It’s an honor to watch Rob shine and lead our company and I’m thrilled to have him join our executive team.” [Christian photo: Chris Hollo]
