Hipgnosis Songs Fund is led and controlled by an independent Board of Directors, which is collectively responsible for the longterm success of the Company. It does so by acting in the interests of the Company, creating and preserving value and has as its foremost principle to act in the interests of Shareholders.
Chair
Appointed: 8 June 2018
Chair, Non-executive Independent Director and Chair of the Management Engagement Committee
Skills and Experience
Mr Sutch is a corporate lawyer and a consultant to Stephenson Harwood LLP. He was a partner of that firm for over 30 years and its senior partner for 10 years. He has had extensive experience in advising investment funds, investment managers and boards of investment trusts. This has included advice on complex fund launches, restructurings and corporate actions. He was Chair of two other investment trusts until last year. He is a consultant to an art dealer and until recently a council member of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.
Senior Non-Executive Director
Appointed: 30 July 2018
Senior Non-executive Independent Director, Chair of the Portfolio Committee and Chair of the Nomination Committee
Skills and Experience
Mr Burger has spent more than 40 years in the music business.
As President of Sony Music EMEA, he sat on the board of most of Sony’s operating companies in Europe including the UK. Through his SohoArtists company he has nurtured young talent who have risen to great prominence in both the World Music and Folk genres. His marketing skills were recognised by him being awarded Holland’s Edison Award for Best Historical Music Series.
Mr Burger’s board experience includes stints in both the commercial and not-for-profit sectors. He has been a Director of The BRIT Trust, The Music Managers Forum, The BPI, as well as a number of start-ups and small companies.
He serves currently as Chair of the Finance and Investment committee of The BRIT Trust and as a Governor at The BRIT School and served as Chair of Governors for six years.
He is also a Director of The New Israel Fund’s Global Board as well as of The New Israel Fund UK– an NGO which promotes the values of human rights and social justice for all residents of Israel regardless of race, religion, or ethnicity, as well as the Hofesh Schechter Company.
Non-Executive Director
Appointed: 27 November 2019
Non-executive Independent Director and Chair of the Environmental, Social and Governance Oversight Committee
Skills and Experience
Ms Coleman, initially a lawyer with Stephenson Harwood, has since spent most of her career in the Music Industry serving, across 25 years, as Senior Vice President of Legal and Business Affairs at EMI Music and prior to that, Sony Music where she was responsible for overseeing the company’s International and European legal and business affairs respectively.
Most recently, she co-founded BPureSounds, a music management company developing music artists and music related properties.
Additionally, Ms Coleman was a Non-executive Director of FTSE 250 bwin.party digital entertainment plc until its acquisition by GVC Holdings plc.
She also served as a long-standing Chair of Chickenshed Theatre Company, a not-for-profit music and theatre company for young people celebrating diversity and inclusion and was on the Board of Reprieve, a charitable human rights organisation. She also co-founded Ceroc Enterprises, a dance company creating and franchising a contemporary dance phenomenon across the UK.
Non-Executive Director
Appointed: 8 June 2018
Non-executive Independent Director and Chair of the Remuneration Committee
Skills and Experience
Mr Holden is a Chartered Director (Cdir) and Fellow of the Institute of Directors and adds extensive private equity investing and corporate operations experience to the Company’s Board. Previously an investment director at Terra Firma Capital Partners and Candover Investments prior to that, Simon has been an active independent director to listed investment trusts, private equity funds and trading company boards since 2015. In addition, Simon acts as the probono Business Adviser to the States of Guernsey’s Trading Assets that operate all of the Bailiwick’s critical airports, harbours and maritime fuel supply infrastructure.
Simon graduated from the University of Cambridge with an Meng and MA (Cantab) in Manufacturing Engineering. He is a member of the Association of Investment Companies (AIC), Institute of Directors (IoD), Guernsey Investment Funds Association (GIFA) and several other financial services and intellectual property interest groups.
Listed Company Roles (other than Hipgnosis Songs Fund)
HICL Infrastructure Plc (HICL), Chrysalis Investments Ltd. (CHRY), Trian Investors 1 Ltd. (TI1), J.P. Morgan Global Core Real Assets Ltd. (JARA)
Non-Executive Director
Appointed: 1 August 2023
Non-executive Independent Director
Skills and Experience
Ms Rampersaud is a Chartered Accountant with considerable experience across a range of organisations within the education, entertainment, media and charitable sectors. She previously held senior executive roles at Virgin, Warner Brothers, EMI, the Department for Education and, most recently, Pearson, where she headed up the global BTEC and apprenticeships business.
Ms Rampersaud is currently a non-executive director of Sage Housing and an advisory board member and chair of audit & risk at the UK Health Security Agency. She is also a trustee of both The London Film School and the Consumers’ Association (the publishers of Which?).
Non-Executive Director
Appointed: 8 June 2018
Non-executive Independent Director and Chair of the Audit and Risk Management Committee
Skills and Experience
Mr Wilkinson is a chartered accountant who qualified with Peat Marwick Mitchell and subsequently went on to work with the music clientele of merchant bankers Leopold Joseph.
Mr Wilkinson was a founder of the Promo Group, which managed the business affairs of the Rolling Stones. In 1981, he became a partner of Prince Rupert Loewenstein, providing business management services to clients in the entertainment and sports sectors. Mr Wilkinson is co-founder and CEO of Music Plus Sport Ltd. and its subsidiary Live at the Races Limited. The group specialises in large-scale concerts at sporting events. Further, Mr Wilkinson was founder and chief executive of Kingstreet Tours Limited, a company that was at the forefront of concert tour production for over 30 years and delivered worldwide concert tours for artists including The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Sir Elton John, Robbie Williams and Shakira. Mr Wilkinson is a member of the fundraising committee and former treasurer of Nordoff Robbins, a charity that uses music therapy in the treatment and care of autistic children.
Our Team is comprised of Hipgnosis Song Management (HSM), its Advisory Board and HSG across multiple locations, including London, Los Angeles, New York and Nashville.
On 10 September 2020 Hipgnosis Songs Fund acquired the entire share capital of Big Deal Music Group, which was renamed Hipgnosis Songs Group (HSG). The management of the employees has been delegated to HSM – its Investment Adviser – in its entirety, but retains oversight through the Investment Advisory agreement.
CEO, HSM
Founder of Hipgnosis Songs Fund Limited and Founder and CEO of its Investment Adviser, Hipgnosis Song Management.
CEO and managing partner of Hipgnosis Songs Ltd, an artist management firm label based in London and Los Angeles.
Merck has 40 years’ music industry experience. He has managed iconic artists including Nile Rodgers, Sir Elton John, Beyoncé, Iron Maiden, Pet Shop Boys and Guns N’ Roses. An unrivalled network and reputation within the songwriting community as a trusted custodian of songs has enabled him to complete over 150 catalogue purchases. Merck is a vigorous campaigner for songwriters to receive a fair share of music revenues.
President and COO, HSM
As President and Chief Operating Officer, Ben leads the daily operations of the business. Ben oversees the maximization of opportunities for the administered catalogues as well as leading on strategic initiatives, such as the development of Hipgnosis’ proprietary technology and data platform.
Ben joined Hipgnosis in 2022. He has almost two decade’s experience working in the music industry with particular expertise in the commercial and operational management of songs and recordings. Most recently he was Chief Operating Officer at BMG where he spent 7 years helping to enable the company’s rapid growth. Ben began his career at Counterpoint Systems, the leading provider of music rights and royalties software solutions, where he worked across software engineering, product management and professional services consulting.
CFO, HSM
As Chief Financial Officer, Hipgnosis Songs Fund, Chris is responsible for financial controls, financial reporting, financial systems, corporate finance, banking relationships and investor relations including fund raising.
Chris has over 20 years’ experience in commercial financial management of music publishing and recorded music rights in a career which has included Universal Music Group, BMG Music, Sony Music Entertainment, EMI Music Publishing and PRS for Music.
He qualified at The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants in 2002.
EVP, HSM
Head of Synch, HSM
Chief Creative, Marketing & Culture Officer, HSM
As Chief Creative Officer, Rosa oversees all the creative aspects of the business including branding and seeking new opportunities for Hipgnosis’ catalogue through creative ideas.
Rosa has been involved in the music business for over a decade working with international artists in various management and marketing roles. She was part of the launch team for Hipgnosis and alongside her duties at Hipgnosis remains actively involved with the Songwriter and Artist communities.
EVP Content Creation, HSM
Director, Investor Relations, HSM
As Investor Relations director, Rufina is the primary point of contact for Hipgnosis Songs Fund’s shareholder and is responsible for the fund’s communication with the financial market.
Rufina joined Hipgnosis in 2020 to lead the Investor Relations function. She had previously spent over a decade at UBS in sell-side equity research and global sales. She was a lead equity analyst in the financials team.
Corporate Affairs Director, HSM
As Corporate Affairs Director, Giles is responsible for Hipgnosis’ communications with internal and external stakeholder, using communications to support delivery of Hipgnosis’ corporate strategy.
Giles joined Hipgnosis in 2022. He has over 20 years’ experience in corporate communications having worked in senior in-house roles in blue-chip companies and advised many more during his time in consultancy. He also spent nearly a decade as a broadcast journalists working on some of the UK’s most popular factual programmes.
Chief Strategy Officer, HSG
CEO, HSG
As CEO of Hipgnosis Songs Group, Kenny directs the Hipgnosis US operations, overseeing administration, copyright registration and royalty collection; the music licensing team and its strategic effort in film, television and advertising; and the acquisition, development and monetization of new writers and artists and their output in the world’s biggest market.
Hipgnosis Songs Group, formerly Big Deal Music, was purchased by Hipgnosis in 2020. Under Kenny’s leadership, as a founder and CEO, the company rose in just 7 years from start-up to a consistent top 10 market share leader and industry model. Over 40 years, as publishing executive at Warner Chappell and Chrysalis Music, Kenny and his team have made vital contributions to the work and career paths of a diverse collection of talent including the Blue Nile, Underworld, Dan Wilson/Semisonic, Daniel Lanois, Outkast, Radiohead, Afghan Whigs, Julian Bunetta and John Ryan. He has served on the NMPA since first elected in 2018.
Hipgnosis Song Management has assembled an Advisory Board of highly successful music industry experts which include award winning members of the artist, songwriter, publishing, legal, financial, recorded music and music management communities, all with in-depth knowledge of music publishing. Members of Hipgnosis Song Management Limited Advisory Board include Nile Rodgers, The-Dream, Giorgio Tuinfort, Starrah, David A. Stewart, Poo Bear, Bill Leibowitz, Ian Montone and Rodney Jerkins.
The Advisory Board assists Hipgnosis Song Management.
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Songwriters Hall of Fame Inductee, Chairman of the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Grammy award-winning songwriter, producer and musician. Founder of the band Chic. Co-writer and producer of iconic hits for David Bowie, Madonna, Duran Duran and Daft Punk.
Grammy award-winning songwriter, producer and musician. Wrote and produced iconic hits for Beyoncé, Jay Z, Kanye West, Rihanna, Mariah Carey, Britney Spears and Justin Bieber.
One of the most successful songwriters, artists and producers of all time. His work with Eurythmics, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Shakespears Sister, No Doubt, Mick Jagger, Bob Dylan and Eric Clapton amongst many others, defines its era.
Amongst the most important young songwriters having written 14 hit singles thus far including the Number 1 Song Havana by Camila Cabello and Girls Like You by Maroon 5. Havana was the biggest Song in the world in 2018.
Grammy Award winning super-producer and a formidable musical force, with a trail of outstanding accomplishments. He has added to the hit lists of music talents such as Whitney Houston, George Michael, Mariah Carey, Sam Smith, Mary J. Blige, Beyoncé, Rihanna, Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, Lady Gaga, Madonna, Jennifer Lopez, Jay Z, Notorious B.I.G., Nas, Drake, Big Sean, Toni Braxton, Britney Spears, Cher, Destiny’s Child, TLC, N’Sync, Backstreet Boys, The Spice Girls, Maroon 5 and countless others. These artists know that having the “Darkchild” touch on their Song puts it on the fast track toward reaching Number One.
Attorney, founding partner of Roberts, Leibowitz and Hafitz PLLC. Former COO and General Counsel for The Sanctuary Group (and continued in this capacity after The Sanctuary Group was acquired by Universal Music Group until Bill returned to private practice). Specialises in intellectual property law and during his legal career of 35 years he has represented many renowned artists and major international intellectual property companies.
Grammy award winning songwriter and one of the most important pop writers of the last 10 years. The partner of choice for David Guetta and Akon. He has written Number 1 Songs for Sia, Gwen Stafani and Ariana Grande.
Multi-platinum producer, singer and songwriter aficionado, Jason Boyd, better known to the masses as Poo Bear, is a five-time Grammy winning musical force of nature having sold over 500 million records worldwide. Best known for his unforgettable collaborations with Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber.
Attorney and founder of Monotone Management. Manager of Jack White, The White Stripes, Vampire Weekend, The Shins and Danger Mouse.