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The chairman and c.e.o. of the Copyright Licensing Agency (CLA) are both stepping down from their roles, with the Authors' Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS) and the Publishers Licensing Society (PLS) - which together own the CLA – saying they had agreed on a "leaner" CLA Board.
Tom Bradley, chairman of the CLA, left the organisation last week; c.e.o. Kevin Fitzgerald (pictured) will step down at the end of October. The ALCS and PLS "will consider the appointment of a replacement c.e.o. in due course", with Mat Pfleger having day-to-day responsibility for managing the body in the interim. The role of chairman will not be replaced "for the time being."
The ALCS and PLS said the changes "are to enable a faster response to the demands of our customers as the industry adapts to new technology and regulation." A spokesperson told The Bookseller: "The board structure is reduced in number, and having less people generally makes it easier to push decisions through."
The CLA Board said: "Tom and Kevin have made a significant contribution in helping authors and artists over the past decade and we thank them for their hard work and wish them every success with their future endeavours. Under Kevin's guidance, revenues have increased by nearly two thirds in the past seven years. This has been an extraordinary achievement and one which the industry hugely appreciates. In what have been fraught times for the sector with new technology, Tom has ensured that all three organisations have worked together as a team for the benefit of rights holders and customers."
Fitzgerald said: "I welcome this slimmer structure which enables the CLA, PLS and ALCS to work closer together. I believe that it will grow the platform that I have built over the past few years. Having presided over seven years of growth in the CLA, I think this is the right time to seek new challenge and I am proud that I leave the business in robust health."
Bradley said: "My career has been about making copyright work and it has been wonderful to be able to do this at the CLA."