Verve Label Group, the jazz and classical specialists at Universal Music, has promoted Jamie Krents to CEO and president, and Dawn Olejar to chief operating officer, effective immediately. They will now lead the strategy for the entire group, comprised of storied labels like Verve Records, Impulse! Records and Decca Records US, along with international label partners Decca Classics, Deutsche Grammophon and others.
They’ll continue to report to Krents’ predecessor in the top job at VLG, Dickon Stainer, who was recently elevated to chairman and CEO of Universal Music UK and is keeping his title of chairman of Verve. Both Krents and Olejar are based out of the label group’s New York City offices.
Stainer congratulated Krents and Olejar on their promotions, highlighting Krents’ “long-standing reputation and commitment to nurturing and breaking artists globally,” and Olejar’s strategic leadership. He expressed confidence in their ability to lead VLG’s roster of legendary labels into the future.
Krents started at Verve in 1998 as a temp and worked his way up to become executive vp in 2019 and later president of the group in 2022. He was crucial in finding and acquiring the tapes for the John Coltrane album Both Directions at Once and has been instrumental in expanding Verve’s artist roster beyond jazz, signing talents like Jon Batiste, Kurt Vile, Arooj Aftab, Joy Oladokun, Shabaka Hutchings and Samara Joy.
“For someone who grew up literally treasuring and studying Verve, Impulse! and Decca recordings, this appointment is beyond thrilling,” said Krents. “Getting to work with artists of the caliber that we have on the Verve Label Group roster is such an honor and it’s particularly exciting to get to take on this role alongside Dawn and the rest of the Verve Label Group team.”
Olejar, who has served as executive vp at VLG for the last seven years and added general manager duties two years ago, has played a key role in cementing Decca Records US as the leading label on the Billboard Classical Chart, and in recent years has led high-profile domestic campaigns for Verve artists including Andrea Bocelli, Ludovico Einaudi, Diana Ross, Lang Lang and Chad Lawson, among others. In this new role as COO, Olejar will have the continued responsibility of overseeing the team at Verve Label Group. Prior to joining Verve, she was general manager at RPM Music Productions.
“I’m thrilled to continue working with Jamie and our amazing team to build upon the great work that we’ve been doing at VLG,” Olejar said. “A very big thank you to Dickon for his endless guidance and support. We work with the most talented artists in the world and I’m excited for what’s next.”