The Songwriters Hall of Fame Champion Award was created for and bestowed upon President & CEO Linda Moran in honor of the 50th Anniversary and her extraordinary and tireless contributions over many years, in order to further the mission of this organization and elevate it to a new level of prominence and distinction.
Linda started her career in the music industry as a secretary in the A & R department at RCA Records before joining Atlantic Records where she worked her way up to Senior Vice President. When Warner Music was formed, she was promoted to corporate Vice President and then corporate Senior Vice President of Group and Internal and External Relations for Warner Music Group. As its first female executive, her areas of responsibility included Artist Relations, Industry Relations, Public Affairs, Community Relations, Events and Special Projects, Human Resources and Charitable Contributions for WMG and its companies. She also acted as WMG’s liaison with its parent corporation, Time Warner, as well as all of the Time Warner companies including HBO, Warner Bros. Inc., Time Inc., Time Warner Cable, Warner Books, Time Warner Cable, Turner Corporation and Turner Network. In fulfilling these roles, she created and facilitated projects and programs nationally and internationally including Canada, England, France, Switzerland and South Africa.
After spending three decades at Atlantic Records/Warner Music Group and wanting to pursue new challenges, Linda was appointed as a Special Advisor to Time Warner’s Chairman and CEO, Jerry Levin, and President and COO, Dick Parsons, on music-related special projects, events and issues. Known for her unique blend of skills and experience, Linda is especially respected for the strong relationships she has built with artists and industry colleagues throughout her long tenure in the music business. Combining her widely-known active participation, leadership and key development skills with her experience and knowledge, she has been a member, officer and/or founding board member of, or assisted in restructuring, a number of industry boards and organizations, including most notably serving as an officer of the Recording Academy for two decades and MusiCares, of which she was also a founding board member. In recent years, she has resigned from most boards in order to put all of her time and efforts into the continuing growth of the Songwriters Hall of Fame, of which she was elected President in 2001 and President and CEO in 2011.
Among the honors bestowed upon her for her unique contributions to the recording industry and for her numerous philanthropic efforts are the Recording Academy’s New York Heroes Award, The Latin Songwriters Hall of Fame’s La Musa Founders Award, Dick Clark’s National Foundation’s Music Founders Club Award, The Elaine Kaufman Cultural Center’s Distinguished Service Award and The YWCA’s Women Achievers Award. She was presented with the Songwriters Hall of Fame’s first-ever Champion Award at its 50th Anniversary Induction & Awards Gala in June 2019.
Linda represents the Songwriters Hall of Fame as a federally appointed member of the Library of Congress National Recording Preservation Board, which is charged with advising the Librarian of Congress on the evaluation, collection, preservation and induction of American recordings into the prestigious National Recording Registry, an elite group deemed to be exceptionally “culturally, historically or musically significant.”
Linda resides in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida with her husband, retired RCA/BMG Studios master recording engineer, Mike Moran.