As the Director of Creative Affairs Membership Group for the Rhythm & Soul team at ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers), Ian Burke has his eyes set on his primary goal, to introduce new talent and sounds from the South to the music industry.With over fifteen years of music industry experience under his belt, Ian has involved himself with a myriad of opportunities. Throughout his career, he has experienced everything from artist management to A&R Representative for Elektra Records (part of the WEA Corporation), Promotions Director for Ichiban Records, and Independent Manager/A&R Representative for platinum-selling acts Arrested Development, TLC, Kriss Kross, Xscape, OutKast, Edith's Wish, and Organized Noize.
From day-to-day in his role as Director of the Creative Affairs Membership Group of the Rhythm and Soul Team for ASCAP, Burke takes into account his creativity and innovation and develops programs and initiatives for his ASCAP members to grow, develop, and hone in on their skills & talents. SWAP Meets, Synergy Lounges, ASCAP Academy Seminar Panel Series, and Rhythm & Soul Awards are a few of the many programs and events that educate, showcase, and provide platforms for songwriters and producers to network. Burke once said, " I'm the first stop. I'm the one who takes and molds the talent and then matches the artist with the right producers."
Ian is an Advisory Board Director of the Georgia Music Industry Association, Inc. as well as a board member of The Recording Academy (National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences).
Johnny Colt is a master of the bass guitar and has been a leader in hard rock/southern rock. Johnny is currently the lead singer in a rock band called "Asphalt Blaster." Previously he was bass player in the "Black Crowes" during their peak period, and following that, he formed the "Brand New Immortals" with David Ryan Harris. Johnny also is the owner of Avatar studios which is the largest rehearsal space in the Atlanta area. He is a real estate entrepreneur, a born again skateboarder, and a yoga instructor. He serves as an officer on the Board of Governors for the Atlanta chapter of the Recording Academy (Grammys).
For over 20 years as an entertainment attorney, Cliff Lovette (Emory Law School '82) has represented recording artists, record companies, motion picture producers and other entertainment clients. For 6 years, Cliff was SR VP of Business & Legal Affairs of LaFace Records, reporting to multi-Grammy producers Antonio "LA" Reid (the President of Arista) and Kenny "Babyface" Edmonds. Currently, Cliff heads The Lovette Group, a boutique entertainment law firm in Atlanta, servicing various clients such as Usher, Organized Noize Productions, The Estate of Lisa Lopes and Fathom Studios (Atlanta-based producer of the CGA animated film Delgo). Prior to working at LaFace, Cliff was a senior associate of the law firm Katz, Smith & Cohen, where he had primary responsibility for over dozen entertainment clients and handled legal work for Jimmy Buffet, B. B. King, Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson.
Mike McQuary, is a partner in the Music Services company known as Sixthman (www.sixthman.net). Sixthman's services include artist management, radio and street team promotion, and a record label. Prior to Sixthman, McQ was the president of the ISP EarthLink after its merger with MindSpring from February 2000 until May 2002, and was the president and COO of MindSpring from 1995-2000. Prior to MindSpring, McQ served for 9 years in a variety of sales, marketing, operations, and management positions with Mobil Chemical, a division of Mobil Corporation. He was on the varsity wrestling team at the University of Virginia, and managed to receive a bachelor's degree in psychology in 1981 while missing few (if any) parties. He did the nights and weekends thing to get a masters degree in business administration from Pepperdine University. McQ serves on the Board of Governors for the Atlanta chapter of the Recording Academy (Grammys).
Steve Sidman is an attorney in home office of the entertainment law practice group of Greenberg Traurig, LLP. Greenberg Traurig is a Miami-based international law firm with 975 attorneys and governmental professionals, and the 19th largest law firm in the country.His practice focuses almost exclusively on transactional work in the music business and related markets. Steve is a former A&R representative for TVT Records, as well as the former law clerk for Myron Beldock, Esq. and Elliot Hoffman, Esq., serving clients such as Pete Townshend, Luciano Pavarotti, Ruben "Hurricane" Carter, the Estate of Dizzy Gillespie, and the Estate of Stan Getz.
Current Greenberg Traurig clients whom he service include: Dallas Austin, Michael Beinhorn, Kevin "She'kspere" Briggs, Desmond Child, Count The Stars (Victory recording artists), Echo 7 (In De Goot/Universal recording artists), Sammy Hagar, Heather Headley, Alan Jackson, Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, George Jones, Robert Earl Keen, B.B. King, Willie Nelson, Jerry Ragovoy, Keith Stegall, George Strait, Phil Vassar, Butch Walker and Lee Ann Womack. Steve is an Emory University Law school alum.
Michael Weeman has been working within the Georgia music community for over 10 years. After returning to Atlanta from Washington, DC in 1993, Michael began his involvement in the music business as a club booking agent and artist manager for several acoustic singer-songwriters. In 1995 Michael was admitted to the University of Georgia School of Law. During graduate school, Michael started his own artist management company with partner Caroline Frye (co-owner of college radio promoter Revolution Promotion), and began consulting part-time for BMI regarding Southeast rock writers. In 1998, Michael graduated from law school and moved, along with his roster of artists, to Russell Carter Artist Management. Working day-to-day on Russell's clients as well as his own, he maintained his working relationship with BMI, adding scouting consultancies with MCA Records and Zomba Music in 1999, as well. When BMI approached him regarding expansion of their Atlanta offices in 2000, Michael accepted a full-time position with the company as a Writer-Publisher representative. He has recently been promoted to Director of Writer-Publisher Relations, covering the Southeast and working in the genres of Rock, Pop and Urban.
Benn Konsynski is the George S. Craft Professor of Business Administration for Decision & Information Analysis at the Goizueta Business School. He arrived at GBS in 1993 following seven years on the faculty at the Harvard Business School. Prior to HBS, he was a professor at the University of Arizona, where he was co-founder of the university's multi-million dollar group decision support laboratory. He was named Baxter Research Fellow at Harvard Business School and Hewlett Fellow at the Carter Center in Atlanta. He holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Purdue University.