BMI Announces Promotions Within Creative & Corporate Communications Teams

BMI today announced promotions within the company’s Creative and Corporate Communications departments based in its New York City headquarters. On the Creative team, John Ellwood was promoted to Vice President, Creative and Deirdre Chadwick was upped to Assistant Vice President, Creative, Classical & Jazz. In Corporate Communications, Jeff Gilligan was elevated to Assistant Vice President, Creative Director and Jodie Thomas was promoted to Assistant Vice President, Corporate & Media Relations.

As VP Creative, John Ellwood works closely with BMI’s senior leadership to help shape the company’s strategic vision with a focus on building and maintaining BMI’s global market share across all genres and platforms. Ellwood brings nearly 20 years of experience into this expanded operational leadership role that bridges music, law, and technology. He will continue to provide business and legal support during contract and business negotiations, catalog sales and more. Since joining BMI in 2007, Ellwood has held various roles in the company’s legal department, including AVP, Legal, before moving to the Creative team in 2022 as AVP, Strategy & Business Affairs. He will continue to report to VP, Strategy & Business Affairs, Creative Rafael Martinez.

As AVP, Creative, Classical & Jazz, Deirdre Chadwick continues to oversee the BMI’s Classical department and now leads all Jazz initiatives. In this expanded role, Chadwick manages royalty distributions for orchestral and large ensemble classical concerts and offers guidance to BMI’s jazz and classical composers and publishers regarding payment eligibility, work registrations, licensing, and copyright matters, and much more. Chadwick also directs the BMI Composer Awards, an annual premiere competition for young classical composers which distributes awards totaling $30,000 and oversees the BMI Jazz Composers Workshop, a premier annual New York-based program for emerging composers, focusing on big band/jazz orchestra composition. In addition, she has served as the President of the BMI Foundation since 2014. Chadwick will continue to report to BMI’s VP, Worldwide Creative Barbara Cane.

As AVP, Creative Director, Jeff Gilligan leads design and advertising efforts company-wide, overseeing corporate initiatives, ad campaigns and marquee events ensuring a cohesive brand presence across social media, digital platforms, BMI.com, and physical branded materials. Gilligan and his team’s work spans major company initiatives including BMI award shows, high-profile activations like BMI’s “Your Music Moves Our World” ad campaign and stages at Lollapalooza, Austin City Limits, and SXSW, as well as BMI signature events like BMI’s Rooftop on the Row, Ryman/BMI Block Party, BMI Acoustic Lounge series, and other live experiences. Gilligan joined BMI in 2019, and will continue to report to BMI’s SVP, Chief Communications & Marketing Officer Liz Fischer.

Jodie Thomas was promoted to AVP, Corporate and Media Relations, after serving as Executive Director, Corporate Communications and Media Relations since joining BMI in 2015. She leads media relations teams in Los Angeles and New York, directing PR efforts across genres including Pop/Indie, Hip-Hop and R&B, Broadway, Jazz, Latin, and Film, TV & Visual Media. Her team’s work supports major BMI events, including award shows, BMI-branded festival stages at ACL, Lollapalooza, and SXSW, showcases and more. Thomas also works on communications and PR strategy for BMI’s Licensing department, collaborating with the company’s legal and broader communications teams to promote BMI’s advocacy, business and other company-wide initiatives. In addition, she spearheads BMI’s Speakers Bureau, connecting company executives with panel and speaking opportunities at conferences and industry events. Thomas reports to BMI’s SVP, Chief Communications & Marketing Officer Liz Fischer.