Mark Bright, the record producer behind some of country music's best-selling albums — including ones by Carrie Underwood and Rascal Flatts — has been named president and CEO of the Christian music company Word Entertainment.
Bright replaces Word CEO Jim Van Hook, the founder and former head of Provident Music Group (now owned by Sony BMG), who is retiring after 30 years in the industry. Van Hook also was named as the first dean of Belmont University's Mike Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business in 2003.
"To have the opportunity to lead Word, its amazing artists and talented employees is a dream come true and I look forward to bringing my passion for faith-based music to this exciting new position," Bright said in a statement. Bright will continue to work as a producer with certain artists, a Warner Bros. Records spokesman said.
"I am confident that Mark will bring a spirit of innovation and artistry to Word Entertainment and uphold its celebrated tradition as one of the world's preeminent homes of contemporary Christian music," WBR Chairman and CEO Tom Whalley said in a statement.
Word Entertainment, which operates as a Nashville-based joint venture between Warner Bros. and Curb Music, includes Word Distribution, Word Music and Word Label Group's Word Records, Fervent Records, Myrrh Records, Canaan Records and Word Music Publishing.
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