Anthony (Tony) Abner, a long-time executive in BMG’s Business & Legal Affairs department, has been appointed as the company’s new Global General Counsel and Executive Vice President. In his new role, Abner will be the most senior attorney advising BMG’s senior management and overseeing the company’s legal teams worldwide. He will report directly to BMG CEO Thomas Coesfeld. Abner’s appointment comes after he relocated from BMG’s Los Angeles office to its head office in Berlin to manage global legal matters.
Before joining BMG in 2018, Abner held executive positions at PMP Records and Loud Records, as well as senior attorney roles at music law firms Lenard & Gonzalez and Davis Shapiro Lewit Montone & Hayes. Abner’s appointment follows a recent leadership change at BMG, where Thomas Coesfeld, the former CFO, assumed the position of CEO. Coesfeld succeeded founding CEO Hartwig Masuch, who left BMG by his own request and on mutual terms with Bertelsmann, BMG’s parent company. Masuch will remain associated with Bertelsmann in an advisory capacity until 2026.
In addition to Abner’s appointment, BMG has made other senior appointments, including Mathis Wolter as Chief Financial Officer, Sebastian Hentzschel as Chief Operating Officer, Dominique Casimir as Chief Content Officer, and Nikola Holle-Spiegel as Chief Human Resources Officer. These appointments form part of BMG’s new executive board, which aims to drive the company’s Boost strategy and support future catalog acquisitions. Alberto Chullen Llamas has also joined BMG as Executive Vice President Investments, coming from Bertelsmann Education Group.