Universal Music Group Nashville (UMGN) has upped Lori Christian and Rob Femia to its executive team. Christian has been promoted to EVP of Marketing, while Femia has been named EVP of Business & Legal Affairs for all labels under the UMGN umbrella, including Capitol Records Nashville, EMI Records Nashville, Mercury Nashville and MCA Nashville.

Christian has overseen the launches of projects from Alan Jackson, Carrie Underwood, Chris Stapleton, Darius Rucker, Keith Urban and Luke Bryan, among others. She's also played a key role in the development of Brothers Osborne, Jon Pardi, Jordan Davis and Sam Hunt. She'll now helm UMG Nashville’s artist development, brands & sponsorship, creative services, international marketing and media marketing departments for the label group’s artist roster.

“Lori’s understanding of storytelling and weaving our artists narratives into framing their stories has been a critical element of UMGN’s success,” UMGN Chair & CEO Cindy Mabe said. “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 am so excited to see how Lori leads and guides a new era in artist marketing across UMGN.”

As for Femia, a Rutgers Law School graduate, he has more than 15 years of experience practicing entertainment law at companies such as Sony BMG and Virgin Records/Capitol/EMI. He joined UMG Nashville in 2013 as head of business & legal affairs and was promoted to SVP in 2018.

“It’s an honor to expand Rob’s leadership abilities beyond his vast business and legal knowledge,” Mabe added. “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."

As for our future, it looks as dim as ever. Nevertheless, we're wishing Lori a very, very happy birthday!