The Future of the Country Music Association: Sarah Trahern & Brittany Schaffer Give First Joint Interview in CEO ‘Evolution’
Categoria: Musica
The CMA's outgoing and incoming CEOs begin a three-month transition period.
Por Billboard | 08/09/2026
Brittany Schaffer formally joins the Country Music Association Tuesday (Sept. 8) as Sarah Trahern ’s successor as CEO, but the two executives have been working on the transition ever since Schaffer was announced in her new role in July. “Sarah and I have had a mentorship and friendship for many years,” Schaffer tells Billboard , in the pair’s first joint interview. “It has been remarkable to watch how she has opened her arms and her mind for me, sharing not just what we’re doing or decisions that are coming up, but also being able to help me unpack and understand how we got to this place or what the history of decisions has been. I love the analogy of don’t remove a fence until you know why it was there in the first place.” Now, the two will spend the next three months prior to Trahern’s Dec. 31 exit working side by side before Schaffer, who has been on the CMA board of directors for five-and-a-half years, officially assumes the CEO role Jan. 1, 2027. “When I started in 2014, there was an interim person in the CEO job, so there were some things that I didn’t get to experience ’til they actually happened,” Trahern says. “And so, one of the gifts that I hope Brittany and I are jointly giving the organization is this peaceful transition time.” The pair are now divvying up responsibilities as they go into the next three months. “There are the things that Sarah will continue to take the lead on that I can sit alongside of her and learn,” Schaffer says. “And then [there] are the things that are a little more future looking that I will pretty immediately be jumping in on as we think about what does the future of CMA look like.” Trahern continues to take the lead on the 60 th anniversary of the CMA Awards, which will take place Nov. 18 with Lainey Wilson returning as host for the third time. And Schaffer is now the main point person on CMA Fest’s move to the new Nissan Stadium for next June’s event. Trahern has taken the project to this point, but says, “Brittany needs to be making those decisions [going forward], because I want to just be sitting in the stands and cheering it on next June.” Each step of Schaffer’s background provides crucial experience that she will take into different facets of the CEO job. As an attorney at Loeb & Loeb for more than a decade, she has experience with contracts and rights flow. “I think it gives me a more complete understanding of how this ecosystem works together,” she says. That includes inheriting a new deal between the CMA and Disney that expands their partnership for six more years and includes streaming the CMA Awards live on Disney+ for the first time, as well as airing on its long-time home, ABC. “The No. 1 thing was we had to have a simulcast because you’re [otherwise] automatically taking a portion of the audience out today because they don’t have access or choose not to have access to linear television,” Trahern says. “Marketing to those fans is a different method than