Apr 7
Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum elects new chairman, board officers and trustees
Nashville, Tenn. — Business leader and cultural arts activist Steve Turner, the founder of the Nashville-based investment firm Marketstreet Equities Company, was recently elected as the new chairman of the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum’s Board of Officers and Trustees. Singer-songwriter-guitar-chieftain Vince Gill was voted president for a seventh consecutive one-year term.
Retired Gaylord Entertainment CEO E. W. “Bud” Wendell, who has served seven consecutive terms as the Museum’s chairman, and Brookside Properties founder and chairman Nelson Andrews, a trustee since 1997, were honored as trustees emeriti.
Turner joined the Museum’s board in 1997 and has served as a trustee since 2000. Widely known for his philanthropy and civic leadership, he is a member of the board of trustees of the Frist Center for the Visual Arts, which opened in a new downtown facility a few weeks prior to the Museum’s nearby opening in 2001. As a member of the Nashville Symphony Association board, he chaired the building committee for the multi-million dollar Schermerhorn Symphony Center, which opened one block from the Museum in September 2006. He also serves on the board of trustees of the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D. C.
E. W. “Bud” Wendell
Wendell served his first two terms as a Museum trustee from 1973 through 1979, when he resigned to focus on his growing professional responsibilities as CEO at WSM. Following Gaylord Entertainment’s acquisition of WSM and other entertainment interests in 1983, Wendell spearheaded the company’s launch of TNN. Wendell was named president and CEO of Gaylord Entertainment in 199l, and led the company through the acquisition of CMT and the launch of CMT Europe. He expanded the Opryland Hotel into Nashville’s largest convention facility and established the Opryland Music Group, which acquired and revitalized the massive Acuff-Rose publishing catalogue.
In addition, Wendell oversaw Gaylord’s $8.5 million renovation of the Ryman Auditorium and the opening of the $7.5 million Wildhorse Saloon. In 1994, Gaylord opened new corporate offices in the appropriately named E. W. Wendell Building. Wendell was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1998.
Following his retirement from Gaylord in 1997, and having already raised millions for the Boy Scouts of America and United Way, Wendell volunteered to lead Bringing America’s Music Home, the $l5 million capital campaign that would partially finance a new Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, also to be located in downtown Nashville near the Ryman Auditorium and the Wildhorse Saloon. Including a $4 million “founding partner” contribution from the Ford Motor Co., which gave the Museum the green light to break ground, Wendell surpassed the campaign goal by more than $2.6 million.
Re-joining the Museum’s board in 2000, Wendell was elected chairman in 2001.
Nelson Andrews
In addition to building one of the most successful real estate firms in the southeast, Andrews has spent a lifetime contributing his business acumen and visionary leadership to numerous charitable and civic causes. He was founding president of the Nashville Better Business Bureau, Leadership Nashville, Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital and the Canby Robinson Society of the Vanderbilt Medical Center.
Andrews has chaired the Tennessee Tax Structure Study Commission, Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Tennessee and the Tennessee Board of Education. Currently, he chairs the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee and serves on the boards of the Middle Tennessee YMCA and the Frist Center for the Visual Arts.
Last year, the Community Foundation honored Andrews with the prestigious Joe Kraft Humanitarian Award, recognizing his long-term dedication to making Middle Tennessee a better place to live.
In addition to Wendell and Andrews, the Museum’s trustees emeriti include Country Music Hall of Fame member Jim Foglesong, Richard Frank, Country Music Hall of Fame member-elect Emmylou Harris, Bruce Hinton, Ken Roberts and Janice Wendell.
New Trustees
New trustees, elected for three-year terms, include Henry Juszkiewicz, chairman and CEO, Gibson Guitar Corporation; and Ernie Williams, principal and director, Lee, Danner & Bass, Inc. Trustee Tim Wipperman was re-elected. Remaining trustees include David Conrad, Mike Curb, J. William Denny, Randy Goodman, John Grady, Keel Hunt, Kevin Lavender and Steve Turner.
New Officers
Newly elected officers include Troy Tomlinson, president and CEO, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC; and Steve Lynn, CEO, Backyard Burgers. The new board members join officers Earl Bentz, Connie Bradley, Mike Dungan, Rod Essig, Al Giombetti, Francis Guess, Lon Helton, Ken Levitan, Luke Lewis, Don Light, Mary Ann McCready, Donna Nicely, David Ross, Jody Williams and Trisha Yearwood.
CMA Chief Executive Officer Tammy Genovese remains as an ex-officio member. Chris Horsnell and Mike Milom of Milom Joyce Horsnell Crow PLC continue as the not-for-profit educational organization’s legal counsel.
Accredited by the American Association of Museums, the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum is operated by the Country Music Foundation, a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) educational organization chartered by the state of Tennessee in 1964. The Museum’s mission is the preservation of the history of country and related vernacular music rooted in southern culture. With the same educational mission, the Foundation also operates CMF Records, the Museum’s Frist Library and Archive, CMF Press, Historic RCA Studio B, and Hatch Show Print.
More information about the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum is available at www.countrymusichalloffame.com
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