John Willan: Chairman
A former chorister at Magdalen College, Oxford, John read music at Edinburgh University, has a diploma in piano from the Royal Academy of Music and is also an Honorary Associate. He is a qualified Chartered Accountant. In the 70's and early 80's he was a classical producer for EMI working with many top artists including Muti, Argerich, Kremer, Gavrilov, Domingo, Levine, Rattle and Tennstedt. In 1985 he became managing director of the London Philharmonic. During his tenure, the orchestra won the sole residency of the Festival Hall and attracted the best line up of international conductors a London orchestra had seen for decades.
In 1995 the BBC approached him to build a music division for its commercial subsidiary, BBC Worldwide. Within three years he had established BBC Music Publishing and the BBC Legends label building a top line income of £6.5 million.
John left the BBC in 1999 to devote more time to Hazard Chase and his other business interests. On 1 January 2006 he succeeded James Brown as Chairman of the International Artist Managers' Association.