Jody Gerson (born 1961 in Philadelphia) is the Chairman and CEO of Universal Music Publishing Group. Upon assuming the role on January 1, 2015, Gerson became the first female CEO of a major music publisher and first chairwoman of a global music company. Gerson serves on the Executive Management Board for Universal Music Group. Gerson was raised in a Jewish family in the Philadelphia area, where her father owned several nightclubs including the Latin Casino whose performers included artists like Frank Sinatra and Diana Ross. She began her career in music publishing at Chappell Music shortly after graduating from Northwestern University, where she started out making tape copies. After six years at Chappell, she moved to EMI Music Publishing to run the company's east coast office before shifting to head up the company's west coast publishing division in 1991. In January 2008, Gerson left EMI to become US Co-President of Sony/ATV Music Publishing.