Chris Brown Upped To SVP; Suzi Akyuz & Katie Baloian Named VPs
Fueled By Ramen (FBR) and Roadrunner Records have announced the promotion of three long-standing executives to top marketing posts. Chris Brown has been upped to Senior Vice President, Marketing, for Roadrunner and FBR; Suzi Akyuz has been named Vice President, Marketing, for Roadrunner and FBR; and Katie Baloian has been named Vice President, Marketing, for FBR. Alongside their Fueled by Ramen and Roadrunner responsibilities, Brown, Akyuz, and Baloian also handle marketing duties for selected Atlantic Records artists.
In making the announcement, Mike Easterlin, President of Fueled By Ramen and Roadrunner, said: “Chris, Suzi, and Katie have been key players in the outstanding success and continued growth of both FBR and Roadrunner over the past five years. As a small, dedicated team driven by an independent spirit, it’s our mission to give each of our artists our undivided attention, and Chris, Suzi, and Katie do that with an unbridled passion for the music, a fierce devotion to our roster, and wide-ranging expertise. We’re a close-knit family of music fans, and it’s my great pleasure to recognize three of our own with these much-deserved promotions.”
Chris Brown was most recently Vice President of Marketing for Roadrunner Records and Fueled By Ramen and, a post he has held since 2014. He started at Roadrunner in 2006, working closely with artists such as DragonForce, Killswitch Engage, and Slipknot. Since joining Fueled By Ramen in 2013, he has worked with Panic! At The Disco, All Time Low, The Front Bottoms, and others. He began his industry career as an intern at Legacy Recordings, followed by a stint in the Creative Marketing department of Columbia Records. Brown studied Music Business at NYU in New York City.
Suzi Akyuz was most recently Senior Director of Marketing for Roadrunner Records and Fueled By Ramen, working with Korn, Code Orange and Basement. Akyuz began her music career in the publicity department of Elektra Records, working with Pantera, Staind, Missy Elliott, Busta Rhymes, and others. She went on to stints at Interscope where she worked with Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Marilyn Manson, and then Sanctuary, where she made the move from Publicity to Product Management, with Motorhead as her first project.
Katie Baloian was most recently Senior Director of Marketing for Fueled By Ramen. She has been working with Twenty One Pilots since 2012, who recently celebrated an unrivaled milestone with their album Blurryface being the first album in which every individual song is certified RIAA Gold or above. In addition, she works with Paramore, FUN., Young the Giant and others, as well as Atlantic artists including NEEDTOBREATHE. She joined Atlantic’s Artist Development Department in 2012, and joined FBR as a product manager in 2013. Baloian began her career at Creative Artists Agency, where she was involved with the Vans Warped Tour, Blink 182, Thirty Seconds To Mars, Bad Religion, and others.
