Kobalt Appoints James Fitzherbert-Brockholes to COO and Tom Sansone as CFO

18 July 2016 - Press release

Kobalt, the leading music services company, today announced the company has promoted James Fitzherbert-Brockholes (“Fitz”) to Chief Operating Officer (COO) and has hired Tom Sansone to succeed Fitzherbert-Brockholes as their new Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Both executives will report directly to Kobalt’s founder and CEO, Willard Ahdrtiz, and will assume the respective roles effective immediately. 

In his new role as COO, Fitz will be responsible for ensuring the business delivers on the strategic and operational plans across the group. Fitz has been a shareholder and director of Kobalt since its foundation in 2001 and has been responsible for several functions through Kobalt’s expansion, including defining and managing many of the financial and operational services in the business.  

Tom Sansone joins Kobalt from the Gilt Groupe where he served as COO and CFO. Prior to Gilt, Tom held positions at PriceWaterhouseCoopers and Arthur Andersen. As Kobalt’s new CFO, Sansone will lead Kobalt’s global finance group and support the company’s aggressive growth plans over the coming years. 

Willard Ahdritz commented, “Fitz has been a dedicated leader within Kobalt for many years and has made incredible contributions to the organization's growth, financial success and overall operational strength; he is the obvious candidate for the Chief Operating Officer role.” Ahdritz continued, “We were very selective in our search to find a new CFO and I am thrilled that Tom has joined us. He has a keen understanding of both tech and media/entertainment industries. His expertise spans across all fundamental areas including forecasting, capital markets, operations and analytics which are relevant to the company’s rapid growth and expansion on a global scale.”  

On his recent appointment, Fitz commented, “I am thrilled that I have this opportunity in a new role to help Kobalt, its staff and clients make sure that the coming years continue to be as exciting and successful as the last 15 years have been. I have never felt so optimistic about the role of music the world and the opportunities for artists as now, and I am proud that Kobalt has been at the forefront of delivering that positive change.”  

On his new role, Sansone commented, “Willard has assembled an incredibly passionate and innovative team that I’m excited to be a part of. As the son of a jazz musician, I personally appreciate the importance of delivering more transparency to the creative community. I’ve always loved being part of businesses that use technology to drive evolution; so I am thrilled to help Kobalt continue to transform the music industry’s value chain in support of the artist.”