SONY BMG SALES CONSOLIDATES UNDER KATZ

The Sony BMG Global Digital Business & U.S. Sales team has a new organizational structure in the U.S. in the areas of domestic sales, finance and market analysis.

U.S. Sales President Jordan Katz and EVP Ops. & Finance Dennis Kooker, as previously detailed, will report to Global Digital Business & U.S. Sales President Thomas Hesse in a combined Global Digital Business and U.S. Sales division.

As part of the restructuring, word is that sales branches will be shuttered in New York, Detroit, Dallas and Seattle.

All four divisions will report directly to Katz, including Field Sales, Label Relations, Retail Catalog/Digital/Video and Retail Marketing.

The Field Sales division, which will work with traditional retailers to bring music to consumers through a variety of platforms, will include Colin Willis, SVP National Rack Group, who will continue to oversee the company’s Rack Team, as well as Denny Kennedy and Laurel Polson, VPs of Field Sales, who will be responsible for maximizing sales and visibility at their respective accounts. Tony Camardo, Sr. Director, National Retail, will report to Denny and manage the day-to-day activities at key national accounts. John Hawn, Director, Local Retail East and Brian Blackwell, Director Local Retail West, will report to Laurel and be responsible for managing their respective local accounts where the foundations for so many of our artists were built.

In the area of Retail Marketing, Barry Levine, SVP of Retail Marketing, will direct the company’s efforts. He will oversee Lynne Poole, who has moved to the national office as VP National Marketing, and Anthony Ellis, who remains VP Urban Marketing. Artist Development Coordinators in the field will report directly to Lynne and Anthony.

Kooker will oversee all aspects of finance and market analysis for the combined group, with responsibility for supporting the growth and development of our physical sales team, while at the same time laying the groundwork for further expansion of our online and mobile initiatives. Areas reporting directly to Dennis include:

Neil Carfora, VP Finance U.S. Sales, will handle all financial matters for U.S. Sales, including Customer Financial Relations, working closely with Jordan and his team. Chris Gobalakrishna, VP Finance Global Digital Business and New Business Initiatives, will handle all financial matters for global digital business, as well as for new business operations where we are expanding our reach beyond traditional record sales.

Sheldra Khahaifa, VP Finance, will have responsibility for certain core label finance activities, working closely with Label Finance on critical multi-label initiatives. The areas of sales and inventory accounting also report to Sheldra.

Tom Glaser, SVP of Market and Sales Analysis, will oversee the team responsible for providing critical analysis to our operations and executives across both the physical and digital sales world.

Steven Feline, VP of Finance, will focus on major process and infrastructure improvement projects working closely with John Sheehan, VP of Finance. Currently Steven and John are leading key projects for the company, including Phase I of the company's digital sales and financial reporting initiative, U.S. royalty system integration, U.S. label marketing and recording cost system integration and Phase II of the U.S. SAP inventory initiative.

John Spielberger, SVP of Finance, will head up a special projects role that will focus on ensuring a smooth transition within the U.S. Sales team.

George Clyne, EVP/GM, will continue to oversee the physical supply chain and our relationship with our distribution and manufacturing partners, until his retirement later this year.

Now you can resume searching for porn on the Internet.