Ole CEO Helen Murphy (Photo courtesy Ole)

Hotshot Canadian indie music publisher and production house Ole has named Helen Murphy its new chief executive officer. She succeeds founder Robert Ott, who will continue to serve as an advisor to Murphy and the Ole Board of Directors. In May, Ott effectively cashed out, selling his equity to equity partner the Ontario Teacher’s Pension Plan, which funded his launch of the company in 2004.

Murphy is founder and served as president of International Media Services, Inc. IMS provides strategic and financial advisory services to clients in the global media and entertainment industries. Services include structuring and negotiating brand extensions; negotiating and executing new media/digital growth opportunities; financial/organizational restructuring and integration activities; and negotiating and structuring acquisitions.

“I am passionate about music and very excited that the music industry has returned to growth around the world,” Murphy said in a printed statement announcing her appointment.  “Given the ever-increasing ways people have to consume music, I believe we have an incredible opportunity at ole to continue to create value for our songwriters, our artists and our global production music and intellectual property business partners. I look forward to working with the team at ole and with its founding partner, the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (Ontario Teachers’).”

Prior to founding IMS in 2004, Murphy was executive vice president and chief financial officer for Warner Music Group (WMG), one of the world’s largest recorded music and publishing companies. At Warner Music Group Murphy was responsible for the finance, human resources, business development, information technology and real estate functions. In 2012 Murphy was the lead external negotiator for Sony Corporation and Mubadala Development Company to acquire The EMI Music Publishing catalog for $1 billion and to negotiate a long-term administration deal for the Sony/ATV Catalog with Mubadala.

Murphy also was CFO for Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia and led the initial public offering of the company. In the 1990’s, she held a series of senior financial positions, including CFO at PolyGram Music Group (now Universal Music Group).

In welcoming Murphy to the fold,  Ott said, “It has been a privilege and honor to found ole and grow the company to its present position as a global player. I’ve had the opportunity to work with many incredible people over the years and have learned so much from them. I’m thankful to Ontario Teachers for their belief in a dream and wish Helen Murphy and Ole every success in the future.”

Ontario Teachers’ Senior Managing Director, Capital Markets, Gillian Brown commented, “We believe that Helen’s track-record, industry knowledge, creative relationships and passion for excellence make her the right person to lead the next phase of Ole’s growth and development in this exciting time for the company and for the industry. We thank Robert for the contribution he has made to ole during his tenure. His decision to stay on as an advisor to Helen and the Board will ensure a smooth transition and we wish him all the best in his future endeavors.”

Ole is one of the world’s foremost rights management companies. Founded in 2004, with operations in Toronto, Nashville, New York, Los Angeles and London, ole is engaged in IP acquisitions, creative development, music production and worldwide rights management. The ole catalog includes over 55,000 songs and 60,000 hours of TV and film music across all genres. Copyrights under ole’s control include songs recorded by artists such: as the Backstreet Boys, Beyoncé, Blake Shelton, Britney Spears, Carrie Underwood, Eric Church, Jay Z, Justin Timberlake, Kelly Clarkson, Madonna, Michael Jackson, One Direction, Rihanna, Rush, Taylor Swift, and Timbaland.

Ole controls substantial A/V music and secondary rights including catalogs from: Sony Pictures Entertainment, Entertainment One, MGM, Miramax, Nelvana, and Nu Image/Millennium, as well as an extensive production music library of over 750,000 tracks including: JINGLE PUNKS, Cavendish MUSIC, 5 ALARM MUSIC, MusicBox, Nelvana Production Music, Auracle, and Cue. In September 2016, ole acquired rights management company COMPACT MEDIA, which manages Audio-Visual Secondary Rights for more than 700 clients around the world.

Ole is committed to the creative development of its 150+ staff songwriters, legacy writers, and composers and adding value to our catalogs and client catalogs. Current Ole writers include: Timbaland, Tyler Farr, Chris Janson, Josh Dorr, Gord Bamford, Brett Jones, Jeremy Stover, Phil O’Donnell, Jordan Davis, and Ian Thornley. ole has ongoing ventures with Last Gang Publishing, Roots Three Music, Jackoby Publishing, and most recently, ole-Bluestone Publishing, ole’s venture with global hitmaker, Timbaland. ole’s legacy catalogs and writers include: Rush, Max Webster, Coney Hatch, and Ian Thomas.

Ole also operates a robust label services arm under the umbrella of ole label group. The division includes: anthem, the label home of: Rush, Big Wreck, Ian Fletcher Thornley, Steven Page and The Tea Party; anthem LEGACY, which houses legendary catalogues by such artists as: Stompin’ Tom Connors, Max Webster, Lighthouse and Ian Thomas, and red dot, which has released, developed and up-streamed artists including: Haley Reinhart, George Canyon, Austin Jenckes, Josh Dorr, Sam Grow, Maddison Krebs and Jordan Davis.

Ole’s owner, the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, is Canada’s largest single-profession pension plan, with $193.9 billion in net assets at June 30, 2018. It holds a diverse global portfolio of assets, approximately 80% of which is managed in-house, and has earned an average annualized rate of return of 9.9% since the plan’s founding in 1990, to December 31, 2017. Ontario Teachers’ is an independent organization headquartered in Toronto. Its Asia-Pacific region office is located in Hong Kong and its Europe, Middle East & Africa region office is in London. The defined-benefit plan, which was fully funded as at December 31, 2017, invests and administers the pensions of the province of Ontario’s 323,000 active and retired teachers.