Fletcher Foster
PRESIDENT/CEO, F2 ENTERTAINMENT GROUP
You'd expect a Nashville music executive's resume to include the likes of Keith Urban, Garth Brooks, Alan Jackson, Brad Paisley, and Brooks & Dunn. You might not expect to see names like Whitney Houston, Annie Lennox, Toni Braxton, Patti LaBelle, TLC and Live. Fletcher Foster's stints at labels in Los Angeles and Nashville have given him one of the most varied and eclectic backgrounds on Music Row. He oversaw the Red Light Management office in Nashville (whose roster includes Luke Bryan, Dierks Bentley, Lady Antebellum, The Band Perry, The Mavericks, Tim McGraw, and the Tammy Wynette Estate), before starting his own company, Iconic Entertainment Group, which launched the career of Grammy-nominated songwriter and artist Kelsea Ballerini. He currently is President/CEO of F2 Entertainment whose roster includes Jessie James Decker, Runaway June and Levi Hummon.
After graduating from Nashville’s Belmont University, he joined the staff of Sony Records/Nashville working with a roster that included Rosanne Cash, George Jones, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Tammy Wynette and Johnny Cash among others. In 1990, he moved to Los Angeles to work for Arista Records. His primary responsibility, though, involved lining up media appearances for the label's artists - Toni Braxton, Whitney Houston, Barry Manilow, TLC, Kenny G., Annie Lennox and more. He spent nearly two years at MCA as Vice-President, Television and Multimedia Marketing, logging rock/alternative band Live their first appearance on “Saturday Night Live” and helping launch them toward their Triple-Platinum success.
Moving back across the country, he took a position as Senior Vice President, Marketing for Arista Records/Nashville. In 1999, Foster was the Executive Producer of the label’s first soundtrack. The soundtrack to the Miramax film, "Happy, Texas" received rave reviews and earned two Grammy nominations. The album featured such diverse artists as Joan Osborne, Alison Krauss, Pam Tillis, Emmylou Harris, Keb Mo' and Kim Richey.
He left Arista to join Capitol/Nashville as Senior Vice President, Marketing, a position he held for over six years, helping build the careers of artists like Keith Urban, Dierks Bentley, and Trace Adkins, Foster was named Senior Vice President/General Manager for Universal Records South working with Cross Canadian Ragweed, Eli Young Band, Jennifer Hanson, Randy Houser, Joe Nichols and Phil Vassar. In 2009, he created the CMA Award nominated “Boots On” video by Randy Houser. That single and video went to #2 on the Billboard single’s chart and lead to Houser’s CMA Award nomination for Best New Artist.
In 1999, Foster conceived and chaired the 1st Annual Run on the Row benefiting the T.J. Martell Organization and in 2005 he conceived and chaired the 1st Digital Music Summit (benefiting Leadership Music) – bringing to Nashville many of the leaders in new media and technology. He co-chaired the event for several years, helping to create one of the most important digital music conferences in the southeast.
In 2010, he co-produced the first annual “American Country Awards” on Fox-TV. The two-hour show, became the only purely fan voted country awards program recognizing artists in all aspects of the industry (radio airplay, single/album sales, video airplay, online visibility and touring). In 2013, he Executive Produced the Alabama & Friends album and TV special (featuring the Country Music Hall of Fame group with other country artists including Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan, Eli Young Band, Florida George Line, Jamey Johnson, & Trisha Yearwood).
The Kansas native is on the Board of Trustees of the National Association of Recording Arts & Sciences (NARAS), and the Advisory Board of Gilda’s Club and the Past-President of the Board of Directors for Make-A-Wish of Middle Tennessee. He is on the Board of Directors of The Songwriter Hall of Fame, the Academy Of Country Music and the ACM Lifting Lives, the Board of Directors of Leadership Music, the Nashville Convention and Visitors’ Bureau Council. He has also Chaired Music Makes Us Advisory Board (the music education program for Nashville public schools). In 2001, he was named Belmont Alumnus of the Year. In 2003, he was named one of The Tennessean’s “Top 40 Under 40” and also was a judge for the Miss America Pageant in Atlantic City, NJ. In 2009, he was inducted as an Honorary Member of the Tennessee State Museum’s Costume and Textile Institute. He was formerly on the Board for the Nashville Film Festival (NaFF), Minnies Pearl Foundation, and MusiCares. He is a Leadership Music alumnus and a member of the Country Music Association, Academy of Country Music, and NARAS.