UMPG Chairman/CEO Jody Gerson has elevated Mike McCormack to Managing Director U.K. He succeeds Paul Connolly, who’s stepping down from his role as President of Europe and MD U.K. In his new role, effective immediately, the London-based McCormack reports directly to Gerson.

After joining UMPG U.K. in 1999 as Deputy MD, McCormack signed and worked with writer/artists including Adele, Alabama Shakes, Lily Allen, Danger Mouse, The Darkness, The Killers, MGMT and Sigur Ros. For the last three years, he’s served in an advisory role to Universal Music Publishing U.K.

“We’re thrilled to have an executive with Mike’s experience, creativity and deep artist relationships leading our U.K. company,” Gerson enthused. “Mike has been responsible for bringing to UMPG some of the U.K.’s most successful and influential songwriters, and I’m confident that in his new role, he will build upon UMPG’s stature as the industry’s best home for songwriters.”

Gerson also thanked Connolly “for all of his many contributions through the years. During Paul’s tenure, Universal Music Publishing signed enormously talented songwriters across many musical genres and became a creative force in the U.K. He also assembled an industry-leading creative team that will continue to achieve great things for UMPG and our songwriters.”

In his first official statement as MD, McCormack said, “After spending time with Jody, I realised we share the same vision and ambition creatively, so it was a very straightforward decision when she offered me this incredible opportunity to work with her and [COO] Marc Cimino to lead the U.K. company and its stellar team to even bigger and better successes.”

McCormack expressed his gratitude to Connolly “for his leadership, friendship and support since joining UMPG, and I wish him nothing but the best with his future plans. He is an exceptional person as well as a brilliant executive, and we have had a lot of fun, as well as great success, working together over the years.”

Prior to his UMPG tenure, McCormack was at 19 Music Publishing, where he helped Simon Fuller set up the company’s sports agency and worked across its roster of music artists and TV projects, including the creation of S Club 7. Before that, he was Director of A&R at RCA Records and was part of the label team that worked with Take That. He also worked closely with Annie Lennox and Morrissey on their solo projects.

Those gigs were preceded by stints at Virgin Music Publishing, where he led the A&R team at that signed The Verve and The Prodigy. His signings at Virgin also included Terence Trent D’Arby, Stereo MCs and the original lineup of Take That.