Martijn Tel has been appointed as the new Chief Financial Officer of US performance rights organization, BMI.
Tel reports to President & CEO Mike O’Neill and will be a member of the Company’s executive leadership team. Tel will be based in BMI’s New York office.
He succeeds former BMI CFO Bruce Esworthy, who announced his retirement in March and officially left at the end of June.
BMI noted on Wednesday (September 4) that Tel has extensive experience in senior financial positions at both public and private companies.
Most recently, he was the Chief Financial Officer of Gerson Lehrman Group [GLG], a global data and information services provider backed by the private equity firm SFW Capital Partners.
According to BMI, while at GLG, “he led a “finance transformation that enabled the leadership team to better understand performance across different businesses, regions, and clients”.
The “finance transformation” he led also featured “enhanced automation and upgraded systems, including the implementation of an enterprise data management system”.
Tel previously held CFO and operating positions at several companies in the information services industry and, according to BMI, has worked with several private equity sponsors.
A native of the Netherlands, he has two finance degrees from Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam.
In his new position, Tel joins two other recently named senior executives on the BMI leadership team whose appointments were announced in July, Chief Technology Officer Tom Kershaw and Chief Transformation Officer Justin Rohde.
BMI said that all three execs “will be integral” as the company continues to implement its “strategic growth plan by enhancing the support it provides to creators and seeking new sources of revenue for them”.
BMI collects blanket license fees from businesses that use music, for a repertoire of more than 22 million musical works. The company switched to a for-profit business model in 2022.
The PRO recently completed its sale to a shareholder group led by New Mountain Capital, which resulted in significant payouts to BMI’s previous shareholders, which consisted of a variety of US broadcasters.
“Martijn’s wealth of experience, particularly working with companies with ambitious growth plans, makes him a perfect fit for BMI now.”
Mike O’Neill, BMI
“Martijn’s wealth of experience, particularly working with companies with ambitious growth plans, makes him a perfect fit for BMI now,” said O’Neill.
“I look forward to working with him and our team as we continue to implement strategic initiatives designed to fulfill BMI’s mission to grow the value of music for our creators and copyright owners.”Music Business Worldwide
