Ali Harnell Named President Of Live Nation’s Women Nation

Courtesy Live Nation – Ali Harnell

On the first day of women’s history month, Live Nation has announced the creation of a new division to advance and support women in the live music business, Women Nation. It will be headed by longtime concert promoter Ali Harnell, who was last working as AEG Presents’ Senior VP of Global Touring.

Women Nation has been created to lead internal and external efforts to help women in the industry and to create and develop female-led and female-driven content. Other Live Nation programs addressing the empowerment and support of women include We Nation, Future Nation, and the Women Nation Fund.  The company boasts of an employee base that is 45 percent female.

Harnell will lead the division’s efforts and will report to Live Nation CEO and president Michael Rapino and the company’s president of U.S. Concerts Bob Roux. She will work out of Nashville and Los Angeles. 

“I am truly excited to dive into this new venture where I can combine my experience and relationships with my passion to help drive this historical and aspirational time of change for women,” Harnell said in a statement. “It feels especially apropos to announce this on the first day of Women’s History Month.”

Harnell is a highly decorated concert promoter, having won IEBA’s Promoter of the Year award in 2014 and 2018 and was named a VenuesNow (formerly Venues Today) Woman of Influence. She was a Nashville staple, running AEG’s regional office in music city while also overseeing national tours. 

Harnell started her career at William Morris in New York after college. She was later hired by Ron Delsener as an assistant to Melissa Miller (Ormond), became a promoter and was picked up by Louis Messina to run Pace Concerts Southeast in Nashville in the ’90s.

Diversity and inclusion are becoming very important themes in the music industry and beyond, and the subject was addressed at a Pollstar Live! panel last month. 

“[Building a diverse workforce] takes buy-in from leadership, because it’s gonna take money,” Christy Castillo Butcher of LA Stadium & Entertainment District said during the panel discussion. “When you talk about a first-generation person who graduated from college, their family may not have the resources to support them and help them pay rent because they’re taking an entry-level job at a very low salary where another person has resources.”