Charlotte Saxe, an existing VPL Board director, has been appointed as VPL Chair, and Alison Wenham OBE and Shamus Damani are named board directors.
The VPL Board oversees all aspects of VPL’s music video licensing business. It includes eight directors, representing major and independent rightsholders. The VPL Board is accountable to its members through VPL’s Annual General Meeting (AGM), at which directors are subject to regular re-election and VPL’s members can vote on various matters of formal company business.
Charlotte Saxe steps into the role of Chair following the retirement of Geoff Kempin who, as one of the founding members of VPL, has been actively engaged in VPL’s business for the full 40 years of VPL’s existence. Charlotte is Senior Vice President, Legal & Business Affairs at Warner Music UK, where she has worked for more than 17 years. She leads Warner Music UK’s legal and business affairs team, which supports frontline labels Atlantic Records UK and Warner Records and Parlophone Label Group, as well as catalogue division Rhino UK and independent distribution arm ADA UK. She joined the VPL Board in September 2020.
Alison Wenham OBE has been appointed as a VPL Board Director. She is currently Chief Operating Officer at Blue Raincoat Chrysalis Group. Previously Alison co-founded AIM and ran it for 17 years and was also the founding Chair of WIN. From 1993-98, she was Managing Director of BMG/Conifer, the UK’s leading independent specialist distributor and record company following the company’s sale to BMG and sat on the PPL and VPL Board. She also attended the PPL Board during her time at AIM.
Shamus Damani joins the VPL Board from Defected Records where he has held the role of Director of Business Affairs for the last seven years. He leads a team that oversees all commercial and legal matters relating to recordings, publishing, brands, licensing, merchandising, talent agency, artist management, studio management and IP protection. With a career spanning over 20 years, he previously was General Counsel at The Orchard (Sony Music UK) and Director of Legal & Business Affair at Cooking Vinyl. Earlier in his career he worked for Sanctuary Records and trained at Clintons.
