Mr. Holmes was one of the first African Americans to hold the post of Senior Vice President at a major label when he served as Sr. VP at the legendary Casablanca Records, the home of Donna Summer, Parliament/Funkadelic, among others. He was also one of the first African American executives given his own imprint label, "Cecil Holmes Chocolate City" which launched the careers of the legendary funk group Cameo. He later served as VP/A&R at CBS Records (Sony Music) working w/ Michael Jackson, New Kids on The Block and the late Marvin Gaye.
Ms. Walker has had a stellar career in the music industry beginning as a radio announcer in her native Memphis, Tenn. The former Head of Urban Music promotions for the David Geffen, Steven Spielberg label DreamWorks Records is currently the Chairperson and Founder of the National Association for Black Females in Music Entertaiment. The organization provides a support system for women not only in music but has branched out to all fields of entertainment. She joined Russell Simmon's Def Jam label where she rose to become Senior Vice President of Promotions, the only woman to hold that position at the company and became a driving force behind the careers of such notable cutting edge artists as Public Enemy, DMX, JaRule, Montell, Jordan, LL Cool J, Ludacris and Ashanti.
She also provided the marketing and promotional strategies for such major motion picture soundtracks "Rush Hour" and Eddie Murphy's "Nutty Professor." Through her work at NABFEME she is making sure that women in entertainment have a support system from which they can draw support. One of her greatest programs that the organization has is it mentoring program to ensure that the next generation of female executives have a solid foundation. Her work with NABFEME and LLC allows her to bridge the generations of those who love music and the entertainment fields.
E.J. "Jay" Williams, Jr. returned to the network radio industry in 1999 as President of American Urban Radio Networks (AURN), America's largest black owned network radio company, which has more than 475 radio station affiliates. In this role, he has responsibility for sales, marketing, advertising, program development, promotion, public relations, research, strategic planning, new ventures and corporate development. Through over 300 programs weekly, AURN reaches more than 25 million listeners each week. Before joining AURN, Mr. Williams was chairman and chief executive officer of Strategic Communications Group from 1993-1999, an international marketing and management consulting firm which provided strategies for broadcasting, media, film, religious and corporate clients. Jay worked with clients in France, Canada, England, The Bahamas, Japan, and throughout the U.S. Mr. Williams' history in network radio began in 1986 when he joined Sheridan Broadcasting Network as director of sales and marketing. In 1998, he was appointed President of Sheridan, where he developed three new programming networks and a promotions division. This resulted in the creation of more than 40 new national programs, and entry into international radio syndication. Mr. Williams served as an architect of the merger then brought AURN into being, when Sheridan and National Black Network formed a partnership in 1991. He then served as co-president before leaving to start SCG in 1993.Mr. Williams' entry into the broadcasting business began with Westinghouse Radio (Group W-now Infinity Radio, part of Viacom) at KYW Newsradio in Philadelphia in 1981. He quickly moved to Sales Manager and then to National Sales in New York. In December of 1984, he became Sales Manager of 1010 WINS Newsradio-New York, the largest station in the Westinghouse Radio Group.