Julie Greenwald Named Executive-in-Residence at NYU’s Clive Davis Institute for Spring 2025

Former Atlantic Music Group chairman/CEO Julie Greenwald is being welcomed as executive-in-residence at the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music (CDI) at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts for the spring 2025 semester, it was announced on Monday (March 3).

In the role, Greenwald will present marketing case studies, hold workshops on business plan development, curate a series of conversations with music industry executives and participate in A&R pitch sessions with students. She will hold office hours at the institute’s Brooklyn campus.

Over her career, Greenwald has played a role in the success of superstars such as Ed Sheeran, Bruno Mars, Cardi B, Charli XCX and Twenty One Pilots, among many others. After attending Tulane University, followed by a stint teaching in the New Orleans public school systems in the Calliope projects through Teach for America, she started her music industry career as Lyor Cohen‘s assistant at Rush Management. Three months later, she was named promotions coordinator at Def Jam Records, where she rose through the ranks. Following the merger of Def Jam, Island and Mercury Records, she and Cohen built Island Def Jam Music Group. She was named Billboard‘s Women in Music executive of the year in 2017.

“I have always been so fortunate to get my unequal fair share of talented interns from NYU,” said Greenwald in a statement. “I am thrilled to have this opportunity to work so closely with not only the students, but the incredible faculty at the Clive Davis Institute.”

Record producer Nick Sansano, who serves as associate chair, director of production curriculum and co-director of the musicianship and performance curriculum at the Clive Davis Institute, said in a statement that Greenwald’s “presence at CDI is incredibly meaningful in so many ways. As a groundbreaking woman executive in the music business, she is a source of inspiration for the next generation of industry leaders. As one of the most successful music business executives of all time, she is a unique source of a breadth of professional wisdom. Julie has been very clear that she is doing this for no other reason than to pass on all she can to our students; like all laudable teachers, she is setting the groundwork to enable long-term success for our students, and the music making industry at large. Julie won’t be using a textbook, she is the textbook.”

In August, Greenwald announced she would step down from her role at Atlantic Music Group, where she was succeeded by Elliot Grainge following a major restructuring at Warner Music Group.