On The Move: WMG Promotes Tom Corson to COO as Armin Zerza Departs, Sony Music Names Stephanie Yu General Counsel

Each week, NIF & ROSTR tracks all the industry moves you need to know about. Promotions, hirings, farewells — have one you want to share? Click here.

Warner Music Group has promoted Tom Corson to COO, reporting to CEO Robert Kyncl, following the departure of Armin Zerza, who held the combined CFO and COO role and is stepping down for personal reasons. Corson joined Warner Records as Co-Chairman and COO in 2018, after serving as President and COO of RCA Music Group, and will now oversee global marketing, merch, D2C, and supply chain across WMG while remaining at Warner Records alongside Co-Chairman Aaron Bay-Schuck through a transitional period. Lou Dickler, SVP and Global Controller, steps in as Acting CFO while a permanent replacement is sought.

Sony Music has promoted Stephanie Yu to General Counsel and Executive Vice President of Business and Legal Affairs, succeeding Julie Swidler, who departed at the end of June after 18 years. Yu is a 21-year Sony veteran, previously serving as US Lead of Business and Legal Affairs, and spent nine years at Epic Records in a senior legal and business affairs role before that. She reports to Chairman Rob Stringer and COO Kevin Kelleher.

Caryl Atwood has exited Sony Music after 26 years, most recently as SVP of Commercial Partnerships, where she built relationships with Spotify, Apple, Amazon, Walmart, and Target, and worked with Luke Combs, Kenny Chesney, Kane Brown, and Carrie Underwood, among others.

HYBE has elevated Jenni Pfaff to Chief People and Transformation Officer in a newly created global role, expanding her remit beyond HYBE America where she has held the equivalent title since August 2025. She now reports directly to HYBE CEO Jason Jaesang Lee and will oversee people strategy across the company's global multi-label ecosystem.

Pipeline has named Spencer LeBoff as Head of Revenue, coinciding with its expansion into publishing advances. LeBoff joins from Avex Music Group, where he built the catalog acquisition business, and previously led publishing at beatBread. He will oversee commercial relationships across labels, publishers, distributors, artists, and IP funds, and will sit on Pipeline's Investment Committee.

Elsewhere in the industry…

• Price-capped ticket resale platform Tixel has made four US leadership hires as it expands into the North American market: Juan Torres (ex-DICE, ex-Prism.fm) as VP of Commercial; Alexis Rommel (ex-AXS) as Head of Platform Partnerships; Meghan McBreen (ex-Newport Folk Festival) as Business Development Manager; and Jennifer Lee (ex-MSG Entertainment) as US Operations Associate.

• Symphonic has expanded its global A&R team with four new hires: JD Parent (Canada, ex-Spotify), Nick Robinson (UK, ex-Kobalt), Pia Eiser (GSA/Europe, ex-UMG and Kobalt), and David Niran (Africa, ex-Jonzing World). All four report to SVP of A&R Ed Poston.

• Andrew Lambeth has been named Chief Marketing and Communications Officer at K-LOVE. He joins from Centricity Music, where he spent over a decade as co-general manager, working with Lauren Daigle and Katy Nichole among others.

• G Major Mgmt has added Taylor Venis as Day-to-Day Manager (ex-Big Loud Records) and Kenzie Couch as Assistant Day-to-Day Manager (ex-MCA) to its team.

• Allison Pilotti has joined Ten Ten Music Group as Head of Creative, coming from Riser House Entertainment where she worked with songwriters including Mitchell Tenpenny and Dallas Wilson.

• Tanesha Bradshaw has been promoted to VP of Human Resources at K-LOVE, reporting to Chief Legal and Compliance Officer Brooklyn Belk.

• JJ Farrell has exited as Managing Director of jump.global, where he led the company's marketing agency and co-led events including the Hits Home conference in Nashville.

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