NASHVILLE, Tenn., March 22, 2010-Effective April 5, leading cultural arts specialist Pamela Johnson has been named vice president of development at the Country Music Hall of Fame^® and Museum, Director Kyle Young announced today.  Johnson brings 37 years of executive experience in the cultural arts to her new position.

            Reporting directly to Young, Johnson will oversee the Museum's membership program, annual and planned giving initiatives, and special fundraising events. 

            Most recently, Johnson served as director, university marketing-special initiatives at Nashville's Belmont University where, among other responsibilities, she led the application process and managed the 2008 Town Hall Presidential Debate between Barack Obama and John McCain.

            Prior to joining the Belmont staff in 2005, Johnson spent three years in Los Angeles as vice president, communications and corporate relations for the J. Paul Getty Trust.   With a staff of 32, Johnson managed the Getty's public relations, marketing, advertising and marketing-related special events, and she created and implemented the institution's first corporate sponsorship program. She was one of four vice-presidents serving as an officer of the Trust.

            In 1999, following six years as president of the public relations division at the New York City-based international advertising agency Serino Coyne, Inc., Johnson launched her own company, Pamela Johnson Associates.  Also based in New York, PJA specialized in arts and entertainment publicity, marketing, branding, strategic planning and special events for an international clientele including Philip Morris International Inc., AT&T, Chase Manhattan Bank, KTCA Public Television, the Hispanic Heritage Awards,the J. Paul Getty Trust and the Henry Luce Foundation, among many others.

            Johnson's earlier career included executive positions at the American Association of Museums, Smithsonian Institution, San Antonio Museum Association, Rogers & Cowan, Inc. and the Tennessee Botanical Garden and Fine Arts Center at Cheekwood.  She is president-elect of the Tennessee Repertory Theater board, vice president of the Exchange Club of Nashville, and a member of the W. O. Smith Nashville Community Music School Advisory Council.

             With a major in history and minor in business administration, Johnson, a native Nashvillian, received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Birmingham-Southern College in Birmingham, Alabama.  She lives near West End in Nashville's mid-town area.

            Accredited by the American Association of Museums, the Country Music Hall of Fame^® and Museum is operated by the Country Music Foundation, a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) educational organization chartered by the state of Tennessee in 1964. The Museum's mission is the preservation of the history of country and related vernacular music rooted in southern culture.  With the same educational mission, the Foundation also operates CMF Records, the Museum's Frist Library and Archive, CMF Press, Historic RCA Studio B, and Hatch Show Print^®.

           More information about the Country Music Hall of Fame^® and Museum is available at www.countrymusichalloffame.org or by calling (615) 416-2001.