Brittany Schaffer has been named the next Chief Executive Officer of the Country Music Association (CMA), succeeding Sarah Trahern, who announced in January that she would retire at the end of 2026 after leading the organisation since 2014. Schaffer will join the CMA on 8 September 2026 as part of a transition period and will formally take up the role on 1 January 2027. The appointment matters as it marks a leadership change at the top of country music's foremost trade body at a time when the genre is expanding its television and international reach.

Schaffer joins from Belmont University, where she had served as Dean of the Mike Curb College of Entertainment & Music Business since 2023, and previously worked as an entertainment attorney at Loeb & Loeb LLP and as Head of Artist & Label Partnerships, Nashville at Spotify. Her appointment followed a national search led by a CMA board committee working with executive search firm Buffkin Baker, which opened to applicants in February. She takes over a CMA that in May extended its agreement with Disney through 2032, with the CMA Awards set to stream live on Disney+ for the first time from 18 November, and that has grown internationally, noting UK country music consumption has risen 181% since 2020.