Management and boards

PPL's executive management team and board of directors have a wealth of experience in the music industry and beyond.

Meet PPL's Executive Management Team

Chairman - Fran Nevrkla
- Fran joined PPL as Chairman and CEO in 2000 from Warner Music where he had worked for almost 24 years, latterly as Director of Commercial & Business Affairs from 1985. He was a non-executive Board Director of PPL from 1985 and also served two terms as Chairman of the Rights Committee of the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) from 1986-88 and 1997-99.
  
  Fran is a board member of the US Copyright Alliance; a Governor of the BRIT School for Performing Arts and Technology; a Fellow of the Radio Academy; a Trustee of the British Association for Performing Arts Medicine (BAPAM) and an Honorary Member of the Musicians' Union. Until 2011, Fran was also a member of the CBI's SME Council. Prior to an injury in 1976, Fran was a professional violinist with several top British orchestras.
  
  In the summer of 2011 Fran received two prestigious awards: the Strat Award from Music Week in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the music industry and the Arqiva Special Award at the Commercial Radio Awards for promoting and encouraging better and closer relationships between the music industry and the broadcasters. In November 2011, Fran received the CEO of the Year Award at the Intellectual Property Awards organised by the well-respected Intellectual Property Magazine.
  
  Fran stepped aside as CEO of PPL and VPL at the end of 2011 while remaining as Chairman. Peter Leathem (previously the Managing Director) became the new Chief Executive Officer on 1 January 2012.
Chief Executive Officer - Peter Leathem
- Peter Leathem joined PPL as Head of Legal and Business Affairs in 2002 and, following several positions within the company since that time, was appointed to the position of Chief Executive Officer in January 2012. Prior to joining the company, he was a partner for eight years with City law firm GSC Solicitors, where he specialised in intellectual property and was Head of the Intellectual Property Department.
  
  Peter is a Director of PPL and also VPL, the music video licensing company. He is also a Director of UK Music and the British Copyright Council.
Director of Licensing - Tony Clark
- Tony Clark joined PPL in 2001 as Director of Licensing. In a career that has spanned over 30 years in the music business, he has worked for a number of different record companies in a wide range of roles. He started at CBS Records before moving onto A&M Records, where he was Deputy Managing Director, and then to Sony Music where he became Vice President of Strategic Marketing.
Chief Technology Officer - Mark Douglas
- Mark Douglas joined PPL as Chief Technology Officer in May 2011. As a Chartered Accountant and Computer Science graduate, Mark's career started with Arthur Andersen in Edinburgh as a financial and IT auditor where he worked with a broad spectrum of UK blue chip clients. Mark left at the start of 1997 to become the head of Commercial Systems Development at Sky TV. He played a key role in launching a range of new services including analogue Pay Per View and then Digital Television, both firsts for the UK. His remit at Sky encompassed Advertising Sales, Music Returns, Finance and Cable Billing systems.
  
  In the latter part of 1999, Mark returned to Arthur Andersen. Following the acquisition of Arthur Andersen by Deloitte, Mark continued to focus on serving a broad range of large media clients including HiT Entertainment, Channel 4, Universal Pictures, BBC, ITV and BBC Worldwide. In the role of Programme Manager, Mark led a range of technology-enabled business transformation programmes for these clients.
HR Director - Vickie Farrell
- Vickie Farrell joined PPL as HR Manager in 2008, before being appointed to the role of Head of Human Resources in 2010 and HR Director in 2012. She is CIPD qualified with 15 years of experience in HR and has worked across a number of industries including media, financial services, IT and retail. Vickie spent five years at Legal and General Insurance and amongst others has also worked for BBC Worldwide and the Trinity Mirror Group.
  
  She is responsible for the overall running of the HR department which includes Learning and Development. Vickie is also the head sponsor of PPL's Sports and Social Team.
Operations Director - Christine Geissmar
- Christine joined PPL in 2008 as Head of Public Performance Operations. In her previous role she was a Divisional Director at The Warranty Group with full responsibility for all aspects of B2B and B2C call centre/customer service operations, complaints handling, application processing, claims handling, and direct mail activity for over 13 million customers (creditor insurance, motor warranties, appliance and technology service contract insurance and warranties, utilities cover insurance) on behalf of companies like Allied Irish Bank, Tesco, Toyota and Comet.
  
  Christine has many years of experience as an operations leader and came to PPL following senior roles at Harrods, GE Capital and TWG (formerly Aon Warranty Group). She has a proven success record in business integration, process re-engineering, cultural change, coaching and mentoring. She was appointed to the newly created role of Operations Director, responsible for PPL's Public Performance Operations, Marketing and Member Services team, in January 2012.
Director of Legal and Business Affairs - David Harmsworth
- David Harmsworth is a senior qualified solicitor with over ten years' legal experience in the music, media and technology sectors. Having joined PPL as an in-house lawyer in 2003, he became Head of Legal and Business Affairs in 2007 before taking his current role as Director of Legal and Business Affairs in 2012. Prior to joining PPL, David worked for what is now the global law firm Mayer Brown, where he advised a range of music, media and technology clients on IP, IT and company/commercial matters.
  
  David is responsible for the overall running of the Legal and Business Affairs department, which in turn delivers legal support to all aspects of PPL's operations. He is also Company Secretary of PPL and VPL.
Director of Performer Affairs - Keith Harris
- Keith Harris joined PPL in 2006. He started in the music industry in 1974 working for Transatlantic, a small independent UK label. In 1976 Keith joined EMI Records where he initially worked for several in-house EMI labels in the promotions department. These included Rocket where he worked on the Elton John album 'Blue Moves', Fantasy, Ariola and EMI International. He then joined Motown becoming General Manager working with artists such as Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross, Smokey Robinson and Stevie Wonder. He left in 1978 to work with Stevie Wonder and became Operations Manager for his companies.
  
  In 1982 he formed his own management company and was involved in the management of various UK based artists, while also continuing to represent Stevie Wonder. He is a Senior Fellow of the University of Westminster School of Music, Film and Fashion where he has lectured since 1993. He is a former Chairman of the MMF, the managers' trade body, and he is the Chairman of Musictank. He was made an Honorary Doctorate by the University of Westminster in November 2007.
Chief Financial Officer - Ben Lambert
- Ben Lambert joined PPL as a Financial Analyst in 2002 and held several positions in the company before being appointed to the role of Finance Director in 2006 and Chief Financial Officer in 2012. He is a qualified accountant with nine years of experience in the music, media and retail sectors. His career began with a graduate placement at Warner Music, moving onto internet/mobile company Mviva and Carphone Warehouse.
  
  He is responsible for the overall running of the Finance and Facilities departments. In 2008 he also assumed responsibility for the Distribution and Music Reporting department to ensure that PPL's net income is paid out to its members efficiently, accurately and as transparently as possible.
  
  Ben is the head sponsor of PPL's Environment Team and sits on the working group for Julie's Bicycle.
Director of PR and Communications - Jonathan Morrish
- Jonathan Morrish joined PPL in 2006. He has long and varied experience in the PR industry within the music business, having started in the early 1970s as a writer for a variety of titles before joining CBS Records (subsequently Sony Music) as a Press Officer. He has been involved with the careers of numerous successful domestic and international artists and subsequently moved into overseeing the corporate PR for Sony Music within the UK and Europe. Jonathan is also the head sponsor of PPL's Charity Team.
  
  He is a trustee of the BRIT Trust and a Governor of The BRIT School in Croydon.
Director of International - Laurence Oxenbury
- Laurence initially joined PPL in July 2006 as Head of International. Previously he worked for seven years at the British Equity Collecting Society where, as CEO, the company developed into a much respected and successful organisation. He has over 16 years experience in the rights management business having previously worked for both actors and screenwriters.
  
  Running a multi-lingual team of 16, he is responsible for PPL's relationships and revenue collection with equivalent organisations around the world and has overseen the massive growth in this area of PPL over the last six years, which has now developed into the fastest growing area of the company's business. He was appointed to his current role of Director of International in January 2012.

Show more FAQs 12

Read about our different boards:

PPL Board
- The PPL Board oversees all aspects of the company's business, including its costs, revenues, licensing and operating policies. There are 17 directors on the PPL Board with representation from both major and independent record companies and the performer community. PPL Board meetings are also attended by representatives from AIM, BPI, FAC, MMF and MPG, giving a breadth and depth of experience unrivalled across the music industry. It is also supported by a Finance Committee, Distribution Committee and Audit Committee, and is held accountable to PPL's members through PPL's AGM, at which directors are subject to regular re-election and PPL's members have the opportunity to vote on matters affecting how PPL is run.
  
  Any person may stand for election to the office of director by giving notice of nomination in writing by two or more Members representing in excess of 0.2% of the voting share of the company subject to approval by the board.
  
  Download a list of board members.

Performer Board
- The Performer Board is a specialist sub-committee of the PPL Board with responsibility for overseeing the performer-related aspects of PPL's operations. It includes the four performer directors from the PPL Board and two other PPL Board directors. The four performer directors are nominated by Equity, the Musicians' Union or elected by PPL's performer members. As with the PPL Board, the Performer Board also has the benefit of attendees from the FAC, MMF and MPG. Elections for performer directors are held at an Annual Performer Meeting. PPL also has three Performer Guardian Members (appointed by the MU, Equity and the Performer Board) who represent the performer community at PPL's AGM.
  
  Any person may stand for election to the office of Elected Performer Director by giving notice of nomination in writing by 10 or more performers eligible to vote according to the PPL Articles of Association subject to approval by the board.
  
  Download a list of board members.

VPL Board
- The VPL Board oversees all aspects of VPL's music video licensing business. There are eight directors on the VPL Board, with representation from major and independent rights holders (due to differences in how copyright law applies to music videos, the VPL Board does not have performer directors). Representatives from AIM and the BPI also attend. Similar to the PPL Board, the VPL Board is supported by a Finance Committee, Distribution Committee and Audit Committee, with broad external industry representation. The VPL Board is accountable to its members through VPL's AGM, at which directors are subject to regular re-election and VPL's members have the opportunity to vote on matters affecting how VPL is run.
  
  Any person may stand for election to the office of director by giving notice of nomination in writing by any Member subject to approval by the board.
  
  Download a list of board members.

Show more FAQs 3

Both PPL and VPL hold annual general meetings at which members have the opportunity to vote on matters affecting how the company is run, with resolutions to be voted on circulated to eligible members in advance. PPL also holds an annual performer meeting. Members may vote at the meetings or appoint a proxy using the forms distributed by the company in advance. PPL and VPL may also hold an extraordinary general meeting if a sufficient proportion of members request one.

Management and boards

Meet PPL's Executive Management Team

Read about our different boards:

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Management and boards

Meet PPL's Executive Management Team

Read about our different boards:

What we do

Annual review

Company history