TORONTO (CelebrityAccess) – SOCAN has announced the resignation of Eric Baptiste as the company’s chief executive officer, effective immediately.
Jennifer Brown, Senior Vice President Operation & Reproduction Rights, has been appointed to the role of Interim CEO. Brown has been on SOCAN’s executive team for nearly 10 years. She was previously Vice President of the company’s Licensing department and has worked with the company for more than two decades.
“We thank Eric Baptiste for his leadership over the past 10 years,” said Marc Ouellette, President & Chair of SOCAN’s Board of Directors. “During this time, SOCAN has seen growth and has maintained its presence as a leader in serving music creators and publishers in Canada and around the world.”
With Baptiste’s current CEO contract nearing completion, he thought it was time to move on and a mutual decision was reached with the Board to end his tenure now, according to a release. The decision was described as “purely coincidental” and unrelated to the current COVID-19 crisis.
SOCAN says it will continue to operate at full capacity serving its members as a not-for-profit organization, as well as its initiatives in rights management, licensing, advocacy, and support for the music and entertainment industry.
The organization also recently announced that it is allocating up to a total of $2 million CAD (approximately $1.4m USD) for emergency royalty advances to help “struggling members” as a result of the global pandemic.
