PRS for Music has announced three key hires and an internal promotion, bolstering its leadership team.
Claire Jarvis joins from Sky, taking up the position of director of membership and Sami Valkonen joins from Google, as director of international. Rachael Naylor, who has been with the organisation for eight and a half years, is promoted to the newly-created role of director of operations and distributions, while Barney Hooper joins from AEG in the equally new position of director of communications and marketing.
Claire Jarvis was previously director of music at Sky and responsible for overseeing the music team and transforming the organisation’s music publishing business. Jarvis had previously spent 20 years with the BBC, holding various senior roles within music rights. In total, she has more than 30 years’ experience within the music industry, in areas across licensing, rights and composer and publisher engagement.
Sami Valkonen was director of international music publishing for YouTube and Google Play, where he was responsible for developing and maintaining relationships with music publishers and collecting societies worldwide. Valkonen also held various key positions at BMG throughout the 1990s and joined Nokia in 2008 after a stint as a copyright lawyer. Whilst at Nokia, Valkonen worked to reform digital music licensing through collaboration with global industry leaders.
Rachael Naylor has 15 years of managerial and operational experience and a detailed knowledge of PRS for Music, acquired through roles in the organisation’s public performance sales, distribution and operations teams. Prior to joining PRS for Music in 2009, Naylor worked in the consumer goods sector in a variety of management roles. Naylor’s new role as director of operations is focused on improving and enhancing all operational aspects of the business, optimising efficiency, accuracy and effectiveness, and taking ownership of distributions of royalties to members.
Barney Hooper was previously director of communications with AEG, based at The O2. Whilst at AEG, Hooper was responsible for overseeing all communications activities, as well as running internal, crisis and corporate communications for AEG’s UK businesses. He has held marketing and communications roles in both the TV industry (including global news channel CNN) and the live events sector.
By Sophie Nevrkla
