Warner Music Nashville (WMN), the Nashville-based music operations of Warner Music Group Corp. (NYSE: WMG), today announced that Rod Riley has been named President and CEO of Word Entertainment, WMG’s Christian music division. In his new role, Riley will oversee Word’s entire operation, including A&R, sales and marketing, music publishing, distribution, church resources and artist services. Riley succeeds Mark Bright and will report directly to John Esposito, President and CEO of Warner Music Nashville. Bright, one of Nashville’s most acclaimed producers, will continue to work with WMN under the terms of his existing production deal with Warner Bros. Nashville.
In making the announcement, Esposito said: “Mark has done an outstanding job as the head of Word, and it is a testament to the great depth of talent we have at WMN that allows us to not only continue our relationship with him under the terms of his existing production deal but also to not miss a beat by appointing Rod as the head of Word Entertainment. And while we are delighted to give Rod this well-deserved promotion, we are thrilled that we can make this change while also allowing Warner Music Nashville to continue its very valuable relationship with Mark. We could not be more supportive of Mark’s decision to go back full time to being one of the best producers in Country music, and I look forward to continuing to work with him through his production deal with Warner Bros. Nashville.”
