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Officers

Home » About » Officers


BRANDI SIMMS – President

Brandi Simms serves as the Senior Manager of Membership & Balloting for CMA.  She joined the CMA Executive Department in 2001, as Assistant to Ed Benson (now retired Executive Director).  She became Manager of the department in January 2007, and was promoted to Senior Manager of Executive Programs in February 2009 and Sr. Manager of Membership & Balloting in September 2010. Simms is responsible for CMA Membership Recruitment and Retention of the organizations 6,500 members, CMA Awards Balloting for the 12 categories presented on the annual CMA Awards telecast on ABC TV, CMA Broadcast Awards, inductions into the Country Music Hall of Fame, as well as all other CMA organizational honors.  She also works closely with the CMA Board of Directors to ensure that CMA is operating in accordance to the company mission and organizational bylaws.

   HOLLY ASHBY – Vice President

Holly is a proud, longtime veteran of the WMBA having served 2 consecutive terms as WMBA Treasurer, prior to her election as Vice President.  As a singer-songwriter and performer, she has a co-publishing deal with Grin Like A Dog Songs.  Her entertainment background includes leading roles in professional musical theater productions such as Pump Boys and Dinettes, Nunsense II and headlining one woman shows, in addition to doing commercials, print work, industrial videos, spokesperson and voiceover work.  Holly holds a BA degree in Vocal Performance from Louisiana State University and has over 15 years experience in music education and music ministry, as a teacher and director.  She is a member of ASCAP, NSAI, CMA, Nashville Association of Talent Directors (NATD) and Alumni member of Mortar Board and Phi Mu Sorority.

  BETSY WALKER – Membership Chairman

Betsy Walker serves as Senior Coordinator of Member Relations and Services for CMA, the international trade organization with over 6,000 members.  She joined CMA’s staff as an Executive Assistant in 2005 and assumed her current role in 2010.  Walker works closely with CMA’s membership base, recruiting members ranging from recording artists to label executives.  Walker joined the newly created Membership and Balloting department in 2010, and has played an integral part in cultivating the highest membership numbers in CMA’s history.  A native North Carolinian, Walker graduated from Western Carolina University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music Business.  During her tenure, she was an active member of Sigma Alpha Iota, WCU’s Honor College, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, and Women’s Rugby.Today, Walker is active in her community as well as the music industry.  She is a member of SOURCE, Habitat for Humanity’s Community Relations committee, the Women’s Music Business Association, Society of Leaders in Development (SOLID), and is a lifetime member of the Girl Scouts of America.

JOSEE DESCHENES – Social Co-Chairman

Josee’s earlier years working as a judicial assistant with Federal judges across Canada, together with studies in Music Business through various avenues including the Algonquin College (Canada) has resulted in excellent knowledge and understanding of the music business and legal issues.  In 2004, Josee founded Dime-a-glass Entertainment, Artist Management, Tour Management and Consulting (DAG) and is presently managing the career of Canadian-native award-winning Americana-Rock singer/songwriter/guitarist, TREVOR FINLAY (Nashville, TN). DAG has successfully brought Trevor Finlay international recognition. Josee also works as career consultant to various other artists and has recently acted as tour manager for Tiffany, 80s pop icon turned country, which required her to deal first-hand with institutions such as Good Morning America, The View, Entertainment Tonight, AGI New York and Live Nation.  She is an active member of the Music Managers Forum in USA (MMF), the WMBA (Women in Music Business Association), the IEBA (International Entertainment Buyers’ Association), the AMA (Americana Music Association). In April 2010, she was awarded the Passion award from the Nashville’s Women’s Music Business Association (WMBA) followed by the Social Co-Chair nomination not long after.

AMANDA FLETCHER – Social Co-Chairman

Amanda Fletcher is a native North Carolinian but has lived in music city for 2.5 years. She was head of artist relations & a day to day manager at MTM Music Management for 6 years. Their clients included Bo Bice, Reckless Kelly, Cardinal Crossing, Scarletta, Procter & Gamble and many more. Currently she works for RPM management as an associate manager representing  the Americana band, Yarn along with Margaret Durante and country trio Scarletta.   Amanda graduated from East Carolina University in 2004 with a degree in Communication & Business Administration. There she received many accolades including the ECU Leadership Award & Student Union Chairperson of the Year. In 2010, she got her event planning certification from Tennessee State University.  She has a strong background in the music industry through her time as the Popular Entertainment Chairperson at ECU, intern at Ground Control Touring, intern at Constant Artist Management, cultural arts assistant for the town of Cary, manager at MTM mgmt & her current position with RPM.  She has been selected to represent her company at several industry conferences around the country including NACA, SXSW, Billboard Touring, Next Big Nashville & the Leadership Music Digital Summit. In her current position she is in charge of the internship program, tour marketing/PR, digital media and more. She is currently an active member of the Women’s Music Business Association, Country Music Association, the Americana Music Association & SOLID.

AMERY FRIDENSTINE – Treasurer

Amery Fridenstine began her career in the music industry in 2000.  For 11 years she has worked for Flood Bumstead McCready & McCarthy INC., a firm that provides business and financial management services to clients primarily in the entertainment industry.   She is also a Berklee College of Music alumnus.   A native New Yorker,   Amery moved to Nashville in 1998 to pursue a career in country music.  She is married to her husband, Jason of 7 years and has a 2 ½ year old son, Charlie.   This is Amery’s 2nd term as an officer of the WMBA.  Her previous term (in 2008) as the Community Service Chair and she currently serves as the organizations Treasurer.

   TRINA LLOYD-WEIDNER – Secretary

Music Researcher, Audio Engineer, and Band Manager are just a few of the titles given to Trina Lloyd in her line of work.  She recently celebrated her fourth year working for BMI in the Music Performance ID department as a Level III Title ID Researcher.  Along with her services at BMI, Trina has been an independent contractor to the Cromwell Radio Group for two years as a Promotions Assistant and Audio Technician.  Through her work in radio she has had the privilege of recording such acts as Papa Roach, Saving Abel, Second Hand Serenade, Creed, Justin Bieber, as well as several others. Her most recent Music Industry endeavor has led her on the path of becoming the Manager for the band “Munrow”, which is essentially a freelance band of musicians without a lead singer.  Trina helps them to find talented artists and songwriters that are in need of a professional band for local shows, events and tours .   Trina earned her Bachelor’s Degree from MTSU in Recording Industry Management with an emphasis in Audio Production & Technology and a minor in Business Administration.  She takes pride in being extremely organized, detailed and efficient in her work and strives for success in all that she does.   She has been a member of the WMBA since 2008 and has held the position of Secretary for the WMBA since Fall of 2010.

   KAMA UPTON – Community Chairman

Kama Upton is a native of Lexington, Kentucky.  She attended the School for the Creative and Performing Arts at Lafayette High School and went on to study vocal performance and music business at Eastern Kentucky University.  While at EKU she was a charter member of the Music Industry Organization, she also interned at the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame and Museum and the Country Music Association.  Kama has been in Nashville for five years having worked at Creative Artists Agency and the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.  She has spent four years at Paradigm Talent Agency moving up from the receptionist to her current role as an Agent’s Assistant.  Paradigm is one of the “Big Five” U.S. talent agencies representing the likes of Aerosmith, Dave Matthews, Coldplay, The Black Eyed Peas, Toby Keith, Jars of Clay, Jason Alexander, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Neil Patrick Harris, Adrien Brody and Katherine Heigl facilitating deals in motion pictures, television, music, artist marketing, book publishing, theatre, stand-up comedy, commercials and personal appearances.   On a daily basis she aids in building the calendars of Larry the Cable Guy, Jeff Foxworthy, Bill Engvall, Killer Beaz, Reno Collier, Randy Owen, Billy Ray Cyrus, Here Come the Mummies, Greg Hanna and Martin Ramey.  Upton is an active member of the Country Music Association (CMA), the Academy of Country Music (ACM), the Society of Leaders in Development (SOLID) and the Women’s Music Business Association (WMBA).