The MLC Announces New Leadership Hires

NASHVILLE, TN – The Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC) today announced several new hires who will help lead the company’s customer experience, marketing and communications, education and outreach, human resources, and third-party partnerships efforts. 

Chief Executive Officer Kris Ahrend said, “We’re excited to build our team of knowledgeable experts who are passionate about helping to improve the licensing, administration, and payments process for digital audio mechanicals and provide greater transparency to songwriters and publishers. Our newest employees bring a wealth of valuable experience and insight that will be incredibly helpful as we continue to build The MLC in the coming months. Their leadership and contributions will help ensure we assemble a talented and diverse team that can communicate effectively with the many constituencies that will be interested in learning more about The MLC and provide a high-quality user experience for the songwriters and publishers we will serve.”

New employees include:

  • Ellen Truley, Chief Marketing Officer: A respected expert with deep relationships across the music industry, Truley will leverage her wealth of experience in marketing, brand strategy, digital initiatives, advertising, and public relations on behalf of The MLC to build a robust and proactive communications operation that will engage and inform both the music community and the public at large.
     
  • Leigh McCorkle, Chief People Officer: With deep human resources experience, most recently as the Executive Director of Human Resources for Broadcast Music Inc (BMI), McCorkle is a mission-driven leader who recognizes that an organization’s greatest assets are always its people. McCorkle will lead The MLC’s efforts to build a talented, diverse team of professionals who are passionate about the MLC’s mission of serving songwriters and music publishers and providing them with exceptional service. 

     
  • Dae Bogan, Head of Third-Party Partnerships: A well-known music creators’ rights advocate, founder of several music technology companies, and adjunct lecturer at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, Bogan will lead The MLC’s strategy of engaging third-party entities that provide support to creators and publishers in the areas of rights administration, data management, operations, and education.
     
  • Serona Elton, Head of Education Partnerships: Elton is a professor, Director of the Music Business & Entertainment Industries Program, and Associate Dean of Administration at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music.  A lawyer by background, she also possesses extensive operational experience dealing with music royalties, mechanical licensing, and data standards. Elton will lead The MLC’s effort to engage future members of the music industry currently studying music business and related subjects at colleges and universities across the country and around the world in support of The MLC’s outreach and education efforts.

     
  • Lindsey Major, Head of Customer Experience: In this role, Major will be responsible for designing an effective customer experience strategy and leading a world-class customer experience team for The MLC. Previously, Major helped respected companies such as SmileDirectClub and Lyft develop and enhance their customer service operations, developing effective staff training programs and building innovative support tools to improve quality interactions.

Ahrend continued, “These five leaders are among the first to join our team. In the coming weeks and months, we will be actively seeking to fill additional roles at The MLC as we continue to build and grow our organization.  If you are interested in learning more about these additional roles and would like to join our extraordinary team, I encourage you to visit The MLC’s website to view current openings and submit your application.”

To learn about current job openings at The MLC, visit our careers page.