The Future of the Country Music Association: Sarah Trahern & Brittany Schaffer Give First Joint Interview in CEO ‘Evolution’

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 what we did when I first started, and it was all about linear TV,” Trahern continues. “The messages may be the same, but the tools in the toolbox are very different. We’re looking at other ways to be partners in the bigger piece, and certainly Brittany’s background and her experience at Spotify adds a whole additional and exciting level to her sitting in this this chair.”

After Loeb & Loeb, Schaffer spent five years as Nashville head of artist and label partnerships at Spotify. “One of the things I most value was being there through the transformation into streaming and watching how rapidly the industry transformed,” she says. “It has given me a great perspective that we’re always going to have evolving technologies. We’re talking about AI in different ways, and so really thinking about how we are continuously keeping an eye on where our audiences are and how we connect with them is going to be really important.”

Most recently, Schaffer was dean of the Mike Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business at Nashville’s Belmont University. “I was really getting to experience firsthand how much not only energy there is but also how much wisdom there is coming from a lot of our young people,” she says. “I think continuing to look at how we tap into young people is a way of anticipating what is coming and what are those future-looking digital, or even analog, you know, things that we should be looking at.”  

As country music continues to expand internationally — Luke Combs sold out three Wembley Stadium shows in London this summer, and new regional Mexican festivals are popping up featuring U.S. country talent — Schaffer wants to harness the power of the CMA. “How can we help to utilize the relationships that we have here and abroad to continue to facilitate those connection points for other artists?” she says. “We’re going to have to really be intentional about working with our international partners to truly understand what resonates in their local market and how do we build on that organically.”

Trahern is encouraging Schaffer to put her own stamp on the organization and trust her own judgment.

“When I first came into the job, there were board people that were like, ‘This person should be your No. 2. You need to fire that person.’ And if I had listened to that, it would have been a disaster. The person they thought should be my No. 2 we ended up letting go down the road, and the person who they wanted me to fire ended up being a really trusted confidant until that person retired a few years ago. So, I think you have to be in the chair to understand what’s coming at you, and don’t just take what other people say.”

As much as the three months are to help Schaffer learn the ropes and provide the organization with a smooth transition, the two hope to model behavior other executives can learn from.  

Even though Trahern is staying until the end of the year, her goal is to be moved out of the office by November’s CMA Awards, and while she’ll lead the September board meeting, Schaffer will handle the December one. “And I’ll be there to do a final toast goodbye,” Trahern says.

“A mutual friend of Brittany’s and mine drew the analogy to a song from Hamilton called ‘Raise a Glass.’  The idea is that George Washington is stepping aside because they need to be able to show a peaceful transition and a new generation of leadership,” Trahern says. “That’s one of the things I hope that Brittany and I can show a lot of other businesses:  how great it is to be able to be thoughtful and strategic in a transition. It’s an evolution, not a revolution.”