Folk Alliance International (FAI) has selected Neeta Ragoowansi as Executive Director, following an executive search process led by Arts Consulting Group (ACG). She will begin her tenure on December 5, 2022.
Neeta Ragoowansi is an accomplished nonprofit and entertainment industry professional and attorney with a successful track record of acquiring, building, and managing strategic partnerships, as well as talent and content owner relationships. Throughout her prolific career, Ragoowansi has worked with a variety of entities including, but not limited to, charitable organizations, trade associations, record labels, artist management companies, and music-tech platforms. Most recently, she served as Senior Counsel for Legal & Business Affairs at Global Citizen, an advocacy organization dedicated to ending extreme poverty worldwide. Prior, Ragoowansi was a Council Member and Consultant for Gerson Lehrman Group where she advised the financial sector on emerging trends in the entertainment industry as well as legislative environments. Ragoowansi is the founder of the Law Office of Neeta Ragoowansi and the co-founder of National Performing Rights Exchange (NPREX), a patented marketplace where music owners sell licenses directly to businesses that perform music in public.
Ragoowansi has served as Vice President for Business Development and Legal Affairs at TuneSat, Assistant General Counsel at The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and Director of Artist-Label Relations at SoundExchange. She currently serves on the advisory boards of International Music Managers Forum (IMMF), Gritty in Pink, IAFAR, SIM São Paulo, and India-based conference All About Music. Ragoowansi is also the President of Music Managers Forum—a United States and Global Co-Chair for Women in Music—as well as Co-Chair of the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Task Force for the American Bar Association’s Forum on the Entertainment & Sports Industries. In addition, Ragoowansi is a performing musician and songwriter with her band Oxymorons.
In making the announcement, Head of the Search Committee Lisa Schwartz said, “It has been my complete honor to chair the Executive Director Search Committee and to work alongside my FAI colleagues to find our new Executive Director. I am convinced that nothing we have done is more important than the successful culmination of this search. Someone once said that in looking for people to hire, you look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence, and energy, and in Neeta Ragoowansi, we have found someone who has all three of these qualities and so much more! Neeta brings a wealth of experience to our FAI community, and I look forward to her joining our incredible staff and leading us into the future!”
“I am thrilled and honored to be taking on the leadership role at an organization I have loved dearly since the 1990’s. I look forward to growing FAI and its global structure even further to reach, serve, and connect our music communities and expand our partnerships globally, while mobilizing our service to find more ways to creatively collaborate, activate new and stable digital-led revenue streams, foster and engage innovation, awareness and action, and improve the world around us,” said Neeta Ragoowansi. “I will continue to emphasize that it is crucial for our industry organizations to take the lead and make committed investment in sourcing its participants, members, and leaders from a diverse cross-section of our community, promoting plurality and creating inclusive initiatives. Strategically and actively engaging in these efforts will make the most transformative impact on our industry.”
“Congratulations to FAI on appointing Neeta Ragoowansi as Executive Director. We are honored to work with the search committee, board, and staff of FAI to place a candidate with such exceptional qualifications,” said ACG Vice President Mario Garcia Durham. “Neeta is a resourceful and people-oriented leader that will promote diversity in all forms and use her love of learning to cultivate partnerships and maximize practical results. We are thrilled to see FAI thrive under her guidance.”
November 2022