Who we are - Music Managers Forum (MMF)

Meet our Team

Annabella Coldrick

Chief Executive

annabella@themmf.net

Name:
Annabella Coldrick

Role:
Chief Executive

Email:
annabella@themmf.net

Bio:
Annabella heads up the MMF team, leads our campaigning work and reports to the Board of the MMF composed of 16 music managers. She used to run the BandSoc and manage bands (badly) at University many moons ago and has a background in policy, research and advocacy.

Paul Bonham

Professional Development Director

paul@themmf.net

Name:
Paul Bonham

Role:
Professional Development Director

Email:
paul@themmf.net

Bio:
Paul leads on members professional development including the Accelerator Programme for Music Managers. Paul has a background as a music manager, working on a number of Top 40 single and album releases for independent and major label artists. He first started managing acts at school and likes to Keep it Peel when it comes to genre diversity. Paul is currently on the Board of Youth Music and previously worked for Arts Council England supporting their belief that access to finance makes dreams happen for creative entrepreneurs.

Manasvi Dethekar

Membership Secretary

manasvi@themmf.net

Name:
Manasvi Dethekar

Role:
Membership Secretary

Email:
manasvi@themmf.net

Bio:
Manasvi is the first point of contact for the MMF membership. She advises music managers, and outlines and implements the membership strategy. Svi also oversees communications, supports on industry campaigns, leads on MMF's climate action agenda, and programmes the Agents and Managers conference. She has an A&R background and has previously worked in the electronic music space with labels such as Accidental Records, Kit Records, Cold Blow Records and radio stations such as NTS, Foundation FM and Reprezent.

Laura Erinle

Education and Membership Engagement Manager

laura@themmf.net

Name:
Laura Erinle

Role:
Education and Membership Engagement Manager

Email:
laura@themmf.net

Bio:
Laura is the Education & Membership Engagement Manager at the MMF. She leads on educational partnerships with numerous universities and academic institutions, while also overseeing membership training opportunities.

Adam Webb

adam@themmf.net

Name:
Adam Webb

Role:
PR

Email:
adam@themmf.net

Bio:
Adam is an award-winning publicist who has been part of the MMF team since 2018. Formerly a freelance journalist for the likes of Music Week, The Guardian, and Music Ally, he was communications executive at British Music Rights and UK Music before launching his own consultancy AL1 Communications. As well as leading on PR and communications strategy, Adam manages the FanFair Alliance campaign against industrial-scale online ticket touting which was established with the support of MMF members in 2016. A regular contributor to the media on issues around live music and ticketing, he is also a published author.

Charlie Carne

CFO

Annika Craine

Industry Relations Manager

annika@themmf.net

Name:
Annika Craine

Role:
Industry Relations Manager

Email:
annika@themmf.net

Bio:
Annika is the Industry Relations Manager at the MMF. She works on associate partnerships and curates a dynamic events programme accelerating the organisation’s development. Annika’s background is in the African business and media space. She started her career in Zambia, leading media projects for Forbes Africa and worked across the region. She joined Invest Africa in 2020 to spearhead their commercial strategy and develop their global events programme. Here she curated the company’s first ever music event showcasing the opportunities in Africa’s music industry. Annika speaks English, Dutch and French and is keen to connect with companies looking to partner with the MMF.

Ciarán Linehan

Membership and Communications Assistant

ciaran@themmf.net

Meet our Board

The MMF Board is composed of 16 professional managers, alongside the CEO and CFO, who are dedicated to guiding the strategic vision of the Music Managers Forum and ensuring compliance with our legal and regulatory responsibilities. Our Board is dynamic, with members elected annually through a transparent election process. We take pride in a board that reflects a diverse range of regions, musical genres, genders, and areas of expertise, ensuring a rich and varied perspective in the decision-making process.

Paul Craig

Chair

Name:
Paul Craig

Role:
Chair

Bio:
Paul is a highly successful and experienced British music executive and artist manager having been GM Atlantic Records & SVP Artist Partnerships, Warner Music UK. Paul currently manages one of the UK's most successful rock acts 'Biffy Clyro’ and is also Chair of the Music Managers Forum, UK. In 2014 Paul launched Nostromo Management & Consultancy as an independent company to focus on global artist management, new technology and consultancy. During his management career, Paul has also worked with and managed acts such as INXS, Kaiser Chiefs, Franz Ferdinand, Birdy, Bullet For My Valentine, The Overtones.

Kwame Kwaten

Vice-Chair

Name:
Kwame Kwaten

Role:
Vice-Chair

Bio:
A distinguished figure in the music industry, renowned for his roles as a manager, musician, producer, and consultant. He began his career at Courtyard Studios, learning from Chris Hufford and Bryce Edge. Kwame’s musical journey took off when he joined the band D-Influence in 1989 as a keyboard player, later contributing to the group's success as producers for high-profile artists including Mick Jagger and Tom Jones. Kwame holds influential positions including Co-Chair of the Brits Diversity Committee, Vice Chair of the Music Managers Forum, and trustee roles at the Brits and MOBO organizations. He is the Managing Director of Ferocious Talent, an artist services company he founded that manages notable acts like Blue Lab Beats and Hak Baker. His notable achievements include discovering Shola Ama and co producing her hit "You Might Need Somebody," which helped him establish a significant footprint in the industry. Kwame is also a dedicated advocate for young talent, founding the Urban Music Seminar and co-directing The Ultimate Seminar through Cre8ing Vision with Nicola Ossai and Andre Euell as co partners , bridging educational gaps for aspiring music industry professionals.

Ellie Giles

Name:
Ellie Giles

Bio:
Ellie has been working in the industry for around 15 years now, starting as a promoter at Barfly then onto a successful stint in A&R (finding acts such as Ellie Goulding and White Lies) at Polydor. Ellie's love for helping acts achieve their full potential, strategy coordination and building a successful bussiness drew her to management of producers and artists. Ellie's current roster consists of Adam Noble (Producer/Mixer), Bill Ryder-Jones (Artist/Producer), Charlie Russell (Producer/Mixer), Erland Cooper (Artist/Composer/Producer) and Warmduscher (Band)

Jill Hollywood

Name:
Jill Hollywood

Bio:
Jill Hollywood has a long track record as one of the leading talents within the world of producer / writer management. Jill commenced her career in music when she became editor of the Australian dance magazine 3D World. She moved to the UK in 1995 where she developed her extensive experience within the music industry: first as A&R scout at Polygram/Island Music and then as A&R manager at Telstar Records. She joined Big Life Management as producer manager in 2004. Over a twelve-year career there, she developed an enduring creative partnership with award-winning producers such as Jacknife Lee (U2, Jake Bugg, R.E.M.), Youth (Pink Floyd, The Verve, Embrace) and one of the UK’s most successful mix engineers, Ash Howes (One Direction, Dido). In addition, Hollywood helped shape the careers of current production heavyweights MyRiot (London Grammar, Birdy, Aurora) and Cam Blackwood (George Ezra, Tom Walker), newly arrived New York native Chris Zane (Passion Pit, St Lucia) plus legendary mix engineer Dave Bascombe (Depeche Mode, Tears For Fears). She later expanded the company roster to include other elements of music’s creative process, with clients such regular Coldplay orchestral arranger and performer Davide Rossi, and vocal producer to the stars Lorna Blackwood (Dua Lipa, Ellie Goulding, George Ezra). As a testament to Hollywood’s enduring relationship with her clients, most came with her to start her new venture when she formed Echo Beach Management in April 2016. Jill has also recently expanded her roster to include Ash Workman best known for producing and mixing the stunning ‘Humaine Chaleur’ for Christine & the Queens and most recently Ben Jackson Cook, fresh from cowriting and coproducing the forthcoming Rag’n’Bone Man LP. Over the past few years, her producers/ writers and engineers have worked on some of the biggest names in contemporary pop, including new music from The Killers, London Grammar, U2, George Ezra, Dua Lipa, Coldplay, Frank Ocean, Rae Morris, Sampha, Little Mix, Aurora and James Bay.

Karl Nielson

Name:
Karl Nielson

Bio:
Highly experienced marketeer and music executive, created the Sports & Entertainment Bureau for British Airways and launched Dr. Martens in the USA in 1997 as head of marketing & communications. Created a number of standalone digital music businesses that have been sold to Carphone Warehouse and founded AEI Media which developed the world’s leading YouTube influencer music brands UKF that achieved over 1bn view inside 18 months. Music artist manager for major artists including Goldie & William Orbit. Board Director for the MMF (Music Managers Forum), board director for the UK’s Music Export Growth Scheme (BPI and DIT) and voting member for the UK Brit awards.

Kerry Harvey-Piper

Name:
Kerry Harvey-Piper

Bio:
The co-founder of Red Grape Music, an award-winning independent label and artist management company. Working mainly with singer-songwriters, roots and acoustic artists, she understands the issues relating to niche genre artists and those who attract an older (40+) audience. She also specialises in re-focussing and re-positioning artists at significant crossroads in their careers. Management clients include multi-award-winning folk legend Peggy Seeger, Niall McNamee and Rob Wheeler. She also administrates the catalogue of folk singer and songwriter Ewan MacColl (‘First Time Ever I Saw Your Face’, ‘Dirty Old Town’). Kerry also provides ongoing mentoring and one-off consultancy services for independent artists. Services include social media health checks, strategic planning and detailed marketing plans for releases or tours.

Niamh Byrne

Name:
Niamh Byrne

Bio:
An artist manager for over three decades, Niamh Byrne co-founded Eleven Management with Régine Moylett in 2011, a creative management company focused on building pioneering opportunities and bespoke campaigns across music, culture, and business for an extraordinary roster of artists. Eleven Management’s current roster includes both high-profile and emerging artists including Bashy, Bastille, Blur, Catfish and the Bottlemen, Damon Albarn, Galen & Paul, Gorillaz, Graham Coxon, Meyy, Jamie Hewlett, Naomi Scott, Riz Ahmed, The Waeve, and The Clash.

Nike Durosaro

Name:
Nike Durosaro

Bio:
Nike Durosaro was a practising social welfare lawyer in 2011 when she started working with Shakka. She initially started managing Shakka part-time as a “passion project/ side-hustle”, alongside her main job. Seven years later, she decided to quit her job to manage Shakka full-time and can now proudly say that she has developed a two time MOBO Award winner, platinum selling songwriter and a gold selling artist. Shakka’s 2018 summer single “Man Down” has been streamed over 70 million times, clocked up 22 million youtube views and climbed to #25 in the UK singles charts.

Ray Black

Ross Patel

Name:
Ross Patel

Bio:
Ross is a founder, CEO, and consulting advisor with ten+ years of diverse experience in music, media, entertainment, climate action, and tech. Co-founder and CEO of Whole Entertainment, Ross diversified the company into a full-suite talent management and consulting agency supporting a roster of creatives with world-class management, business, and label services. He is committed to making the company climate positive by developing low-impact practices, implementing company initiatives, and funding carbon off-set projects. Working with clients, Ross has built and launched a number of projects where proceeds are donated to charity or used to fund environmental projects.

Sammy Andrews

Name:
Sammy Andrews

Bio:
Sammy Andrews has a long history at the forefront of the new music landscape and is considered one of the music industry's leading digital advisors and futurologists. She gained a 360 degree view of the music industry through her background as a concert promoter, artist manager, tour manager and independent record label founder. She went on to head up digital departments at XIX and Cooking Vinyl Records before joining the board at Entertainment Intelligence and is now founder and CEO of Deviate Digital. Deviate Digital provides an extensive array of services from high level digital strategies for blue chip companies to artist and product creative digital marketing, training, streaming strategies, media buying and data insights/analysis.

Sandy Dworniak

Stephen Taverner

Sumit Bothra

Name:
Sumit Bothra

Bio:
Sumit manages artists such as PJ Harvey, Fink, Katie Melua, Nathan Nicholson, Tom King, The Boxer Rebellion and more. His road to the music business was 'non-traditional'. From the Hindi a-capella group "Penn Masala" he founded between 1995 and 1998, studying engineering with a plan to become a robotics expert to simply helping out a musician friend with no audience and taking their career to extraordinary heights, his road was a mix of opportunity, persistence and ingenuity. He attended Ashville College in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England between 1988 and 1993, and Woodberry Forest School between 1993 and 1995.

Vicky Dowdall

Clare Wright

Meet our Custodians Council

The Custodians of the MMF are a permanent assembly of seasoned MMF members and industry pioneers who provide invaluable advice to the organisation. Many of our custodians have been pivotal to the MMF from its inception in 1992, playing critical roles in its growth and development through the years. Their longstanding commitment and depth of experience are cornerstone assets to the MMF.

Alex Weston

Brian Message

Carol Crabtree

Dennis Muirhead

Diane Wagg

Gary Mcclarnan

Ian McAndrew

Jackie Davidson

Jon Webster

Keith Harris OBE

Leigh Johnson

Merck Mercuriadis

Paul Crockford

Professor Jonathan Shalit OBE

Scott Rodger

Stephen Budd

Name:
Stephen Budd

Bio:
Stephen Budd is a British music industry executive and artist manager based in London. In June 2017 he completed his 3-year term as co-chairman of the MMF He is a director of artist and producer management company Stephen Budd Music Ltd, the OneFest Festival, of Damon Albarn's Africa Express project and is the co-founder of the NH7 Weekender festivals in India and helped create the DMZ Peace Train Festival in Korea. Stephen is a recognised TV commentator on music industry issues, regularly appearing on a variety of British TV news shows. He has created a variety of Charity projects including’ co-producing Amnesty International and Sofar Sounds' ‘Give A Home’ global concert series for refugees and creating WarChild’s “Passport Back To The Bars" highly successful concert series for children affected by war (now called BritsWeek). And in 2022 The Music Venues Trust "Passport Back To Our Roots" concert series to raise money for Covid-19 endangered live music venues.

Zita McHugh

Paul Burger

Tim Clark

John Glover

Trenton Harrison-Lewis