NMPA ANNOUNCES ADDITION OF CHRIS BATES AND ASHLEY JONES TO TEAM
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) today announced the hiring of two new additions to the team. Chris Bates has been brought on as SVP, Legal & Business Affairs and Ashley Jones has joined as Manager, External Affairs.
NMPA President & CEO David Israelite said, “Adding Chris to our Legal & Business Affairs team and Ashley to our External Affairs team greatly build out our growing capabilities to serve our members and the larger music and copyright community. I am excited to welcome Chris, who has extensive in-depth experience dealing with intellectual property legislation and litigation and brings a policy expertise that will be critical to the challenges we face on the regulatory, congressional and judicial fronts in addition to ensuring creator’s work is protected commercially. His tenure with Senator Hatch, within the DOJ and in private practice are well suited to optimize our work to support publishers and songwriters. The addition of Ashley will enhance our External Affairs Department – from communications, outreach and advocacy, including the NMPA S.O.N.G.S. (Supporting Our Next Generation of Songwriters) Foundation, to our Gold & Platinum Program and events – her attitude and time as an NMPA intern will make her impact immediate.”
Mr. Bates previously worked at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) in both the Civil Division and Antitrust Division as Senior Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General, where he managed litigation and argued cases in more than a dozen courts across the country. Prior to his service at DOJ, Bates was Chief Counsel to Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) on the Senate Judiciary Committee where he advised on judicial nominations and led the introduction and passage of several landmark pieces of legislation in the fields of data privacy, criminal law and intellectual property, including the Music Modernization Act.
Earlier in his career, Bates was a litigation associate at Sidley Austin LLP in Washington, D.C. and clerked for Judge Thomas B. Griffith on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C Circuit. Bates earned his JD magna cum laude from Harvard Law School, where he was the managing editor of the Harvard Law Review, and a BA summa cum laude in Political Science from Brigham Young University. Chris currently serves as a Legal Fellow at the Orrin G. Hatch Foundation, where he researches and writes on topics related to antitrust, intellectual property, and criminal law. He also teaches courses on legal studies and constitutional law at Southern Virginia University. In his role at NMPA, he reports to the EVP & GC Danielle Aguirre.
Prior to joining NMPA, Ms. Jones lived in Manhattan and worked as a Sales Development Representative at a tech startup serving the insurance and financial services industries. Ashley is a 2019 graduate of the University of California, Berkeley. At Cal she received a degree in Media Studies, played NCAA Division I Women’s Lacrosse, and was an active member of Pi Beta Phi, serving the Leadership Nominating Committee. She reports to the SVP of External Affairs, Charlotte Sellmyer.