The Mechanical Licensing Collective Expands Leadership Team By Three

The Mechanical Licensing Collective has added three new members to its leadership team. Kristen Johns has joined the organization as Chief Legal Officer, Nathan Osher has been named Assistant General Counsel—Publisher Relations, and Andrew Mitchell has joined the team as Head of Analytics and Automation. All three joined the MLC earlier this month and will be based in Nashville.

“I am thrilled to welcome Kristen, Nathan and Andrew to The MLC’s growing team,” said Kris Ahrend, The MLC’s CEO. “Each of them possesses many years of experience in their respective areas of expertise, which will enable them to begin contributing immediately to the important work we are doing. All three are fully committed to serving our members and fulfilling our important mission to ensure that our members are paid properly.”

Johns will lead the organization’s strategic legal affairs, manage the statutory blanket licensing process for digital service providers, and oversee compliance with statutory obligations. An experienced intellectual property and technology lawyer, she comes to The MLC from Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis, LLP in Nashville, where she was a partner. During her tenure at Waller, she advised clients on a variety of IP-related issues, including data security, privacy laws, and emerging technologies. She also helped found and lead Tokenize Tennessee, a Nashville-based organization dedicated to the development of blockchain-based businesses in Tennessee. Prior to joining Waller, Johns served as General Counsel for a technology start-up and in-house Counsel for a healthcare IT company. She holds a J.D. from the Saint Louis University School of Law and a B.S. in Engineering Science from Vanderbilt University.

Osher will serve as The MLC’s primary in-house expert on publishing and copyright issues, and will also oversee the management and resolution of claims and litigation-related matters. An entertainment attorney and executive for more than 20 years, Osher has extensive experience in music publishing, and he has counseled clients on a variety of matters related to intellectual property rights, contracts, licensing and litigation. He most recently served as Senior Vice President of Legal & Business Affairs for Warner Chappell Music, Inc., and was previously the General Counsel and Vice President of Business Affairs at Wixen Music Publishing, Inc. Osher holds a J.D. from the University of West Los Angeles and earned a B.A. in Political Science from Loyola Marymount University.

In his new position Mitchell will lead The MLC’s analytics and automation activities, oversee the design and implementation of business intelligence reporting for The MLC’s internal teams, and develop strategies and tools for analyzing the usage reporting data from DSPs. He will also manage The MLC’s manual sound recording and musical works matching processes. Mitchell has more than 15 years of experience in operations, analytics, business intelligence, automation, process improvement, lean six sigma and global business transformation. He comes to The MLC from Warner Music Group, where he was the Vice President of Analytics & Process Automation, and previously spent a decade working in financial planning and analysis for Ingram Content Group. Mitchell graduated from Miami University (Ohio) with a B.S. in Business and holds an M.B.A. from Vanderbilt University’s Owen Graduate School of Management, where he graduated at the top of his class.

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