Variety’s Business Managers Elite 2025: Meet the Money Minders for A-listers From Awkwafina and Joe Rogan to Kevin Costner and Zendaya

Reggie Gooden
Founder & managing partner
Kymberli Hall
Business manager
360 Business Management

In the past year, 360 Management has tripled its client roster, quadrupled its staff and expanded into two Los Angeles offices. It handles a mix of music (60%), film and TV (30%), and digital and sports talent (10%), the latter of which includes former NBA All-Star Baron Davis, NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo and MMA fighter Anderson Silva, who all came aboard with the hire of new partner Lisa Behringer in the fall of 2025. Other clients include Cedric the Entertainer, Bella Thorne, January Jones, Frankie Shaw, Diana Nyad, YouTube creator CashNasty, musicians Devon “Stixx” Taylor, Saweetie and Cory Henry. Firm founder Gooden counsels all clients to maintain a solid financial foundation. “In the rare instance where they come with some crazy idea that they want to execute, I will always just steer them back to fundamentals,” he says.

Principal and business manager
Abacus Financial Business Management

Anakwenze gives all her clients — which include actor Jay Ellis (“Top Gun: Maverick”) and “ET” host Kevin Frazier — the same no-nonsense advice  in today’s uncertain economic climate: create multiple revenue streams, diversify investments and be frugal with cash. Thankful that none of her clients were directly impacted by this year’s devastating Los Angeles wildfires, Anakwenze closely reviewed their insurance policies. “We did our due diligence, making sure that if anything ever does happen to our clients where they’re directly impacted, they’re covered. We double-checked policy lines and what’s covered and what’s not covered and got extra policies if needed. It was an eye-opener for us to double-check everything.”

David Levin
Managing director, David Levin Business Management, a division of Adeptus Advisors
Ellis Beber
Michael Nelson
Partners, business management, David Levin Business Management, a division of Adeptus Advisors
Allison Krant
Senior director, business management
Adeptus Advisors

Levin, Beber and Nelson are part of the New York City-based David Levin Business Management, which became a division of much bigger Adeptus Advisors back in 2019. Nelson believes the merger gives the best of both worlds to its clients, which include John Legend and Chrissy Teigen, the Black Crowes, Madison Beer, Hailey Bieber, Lake Street Dive, Edie Falco and fashion designer Nicole Miller. “While we’re able to maintain a boutique approach to client service, we also have the resources of a larger firm,” says Nelson. “So, if we need to bring in royalty divisions, audits, whatever it may be, we’re able to do that, but still keep that hand-holding approach.” Beber, who also supplies tour accounting services, says he’s noticing a new trend with insurance coverage. “A lot of clients are taking non-appearance coverage because even climate change can be something that can impact.”

Anthony Bonsignore, Steven Pregiato
Managing partners
David Altman
Partner
Altman, Greenfield & Selvaggi

Although Bonsignore and Pregiato are based in New York and Altman in Los Angeles, this trio is a powerfully cohesive team. Each has his own roster of A-list clients that span most areas of the entertainment industry. Bonsignore’s clients include Dakota Johnson, Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig, David Harbour and Sterling K. Brown. Altman’s include Donald Glover, John Goodman, David Benioff and D.B. Weiss. And Pregiato’s include Peter Dinklage, Christina Ricci and John Turturro. Altman, Bonsignore and Pregiato collaborate with their client’s representatives to identify unique business and career opportunities. While L.A. is still the nation’s entertainment hub, working in overseas productions can impact clients. “I’ve had clients moving out of Los Angeles,” Altman says. “Some of them looking for tax advantages of doing it, some of them looking for lifestyle and just feeling they don’t need to necessarily be here for the work that they want to do.”

Tate Henshaw
COO, co-founder
Lorne Clark
CEO, co-founder
ARC Business Management

Overseeing more than $100 million in revenue from a variety of athletic superstars, A-list actors and popular musicians, Atlanta’s ARC Business Management co-founders Henshaw and Clark’s combined acumen includes fintech, estate planning, royalty administration and wealth strategy. But they feel their philosophy surrounding wealth is a little different than most business managers. “Generally, we come at it from a more protective standpoint,” Henshaw explains. “Whether you’re talking an NBA player, an actress, an artist, etc., they don’t understand that you don’t really need to be aggressive to achieve your goals, you just don’t need to be foolish. When you’ve generated a lot of income, you might feel like you need to roll the dice, but, in reality, you probably don’t.”

Craig Manzino
Jason Zayon
Partners-in-charge
Robert Abramowitz
Partner
Olga Goldovskaya
Director
Armanino Advisory

The Armanino quartet has helped grow the firm into a large comprehensive business management teams. Manzino and Zayon’s clients include actors, producers, directors, writers, musicians, high-net-worth individuals and business owners. Abramowitz focuses on sports figures, advising clients on deal structuring, M&A and business ventures like production companies, podcasts, YouTube channels and other non-entertainment investments. Goldovskaya is a go-to exec for influencers and content creators. They all educate and empower clients to make smart financial decisions, with AI being a common topic these days. “AI, it’s not coming – it’s here. And this is not a test,” Manzino says, before pondering, “I don’t know if these AI actors will have to file tax returns,” referencing industry buzz over AI actress Tilly Norwood and an AI music artist being offered a $3 million deal.

Marc Rosen
Samuel Levin
Partners
Aiden Tascic
Director
Armanino Advisory

With Rosen based in New York and Levin and Tascic in two different offices in Los Angeles, this trio offers high- and ultra-high-wealth clients throughout showbiz sage advice. While the industry adjusts to a new normal resulting from the 2023 dual strikes — notably fewer film and TV productions and more foreign shoots — Rosen, Tascic and Levin have helped keep their clients’ income streams flowing during sluggish periods by encouraging wise investment decisions during more lucrative periods. Doing that means staying on top of ever-mutating tax laws and adapting to change. They encourage staff to use AI to help with repetitive tasks. “I’ve seen lots of cool things our staff is doing in terms of robotic processing,” Rosen says. “Summarizing complicated contracts or documents, spreadsheet work. There’s a lot of things happening that are making people more efficient.”

Evan Bell
Managing partner
Liza de Leon
Senior partner
Yifan Yang
Tax and financial management supervisor
Carrie Zhao
Shue Zhu
Business managers
Bell and Company CPAs

Over the past year, Bell has helped four clients move to London, doing everything from addressing tax and residency issues to finding, financing and purchasing their homes. “They realize they’re not filming in the United States anymore,” explains Bell. “There’s no reason for them to be here. And politically, they’re unhappy here, and they’re feeling that life in Europe is better and easier for them.” In addition to its expat expertise, the firm also has a rep for being adept at handling stand-up comics such as Andrew Santino, Stavros Halkias, Tom Papa and Adam Ray, and it has recently branched out into the showrunner realm with new clients including Jonathan Tropper and Francesca Sloane. Bell’s right hand is De Leon, who’s been with the firm for more than 30 years and today oversees the business management division of the practice, with clients that include Steven Soderbergh, Robert Eggers, Emily Deschanel and Carmen Cuba.

Adam Sansiveri
Co-lead, regional senior managing director, Nashville
Stacie Jacobsen
Co-lead, national director of client engagement, Los Angeles
Chris Brigham
Co-lead, senior research analyst, New York
Dan Weisman
Principal, advisor specialist
Bernstein Sports & Entertainment Group

A division of Bernstein Private Wealth Management, its sports and entertainment team has members based in Nashville (former Broadway producer Sansiveri and Grammy-nominated ex-music manager Weisman), Los Angeles (Jacobsen) and New York (research analysis Brigham). Their mission: help clients align financial decisions with their core values. Sansiveri says the shared mindset of entertainers and athletes has “shifted towards, ‘How can I maximize my value with my time in the spotlight to extend my earnings capabilities?’ That may be creating businesses [or] earning equity in companies, but [it’s] really [about] leveraging their brand power to further the brand itself.” Weisman’s example: his former management client Mike Posner, the Detroit hitmaker he helped pivot into the wellness space via health beverage manufacturers AG1 Athletic Greens. “It was a great outcome on every front,” says Sansiveri. “He got paid to endorse them and was able to invest in the company that is growing along with his foray into the wellness space.” 

Managing partner
Business Wealth & Tax Management

Shaheen does more than help clients manage their money. He invests his time, energy and expertise in his clients, which include Jared Leto, Noname, Burna Boy, Kenny Beats and Mk.gee. By doing that he becomes a trusted partner. One day he might help a client replace lost credit cards or plan for their beneficiaries, and the next he might be walking them through buying insurance. “Insurance is nasty. It’s not fun. It’s not as straightforward as people think. And it’s also costly,” Shaheen says. “At the same time, I also understand the importance of having insurance. It really comes back to what’s right for every client’s unique circumstance.”

Douglas Cammarano (not pictured)
Jean Lee
Maria del Pilar Lopez
Partners
Wayne Kamemoto
Partner, music industry practice leader
Citrin Cooperman

Citrin Cooperman provides a potpourri of services to its roster of A-listers from the music and cinema worlds, including tax compliance, royalty audits services, insurance coverage procurement and estate planning. “We have very deep, trusting relationships with our clients,” says Lee. “We’re really here as their quarterback, to set up their estate planning meetings, their insurance meetings, get all the information, put it down in bullet points and make sure they’re protected. That’s our number one priority.” But there are always challenges. Del Pilar Lopez says it’s gotten so tough to obtain timely U.S. visas that some of her touring clients are forced to cancel their treks. “We used to plan six months in advance for visas — now it’s a year and a half to two years,” Lopez explains. “Sometimes visas get revoked with little explanation. It’s been a nightmare.”

Founding partner
CRM Management, a division of NKSFB

New York-based Malcolm has noticed a rising trend with some members of her enviable roster, which includes David Duchovny, Ethan Hawke, Sofia Coppola, Benedict Cumberbatch, Jennifer Connelly, Heather Graham, Ariana DeBose, Sophie Turner, Anderson Cooper and Griffin Dunne. A few have been so successful at monetizing their social media presence that they are no longer beholden to the old one-for-me/one-for-them philosophy regarding passion vs. payday projects. “They’re making a lot of their money from fashion and posting and things like that,” she says. “It allows people to do the work they want to do because they can get money from that and still do interesting movies.”

President
Davis Financial Group

Since departing the large business management firm MGO during the pandemic to hang out her own shingle, Davis has found that she’s “not as scheduled 24-7” with things like internal meetings and travel. This gives her more time to focus on her clients, which include above-the-title actors, writers, producers, directors and other high-net-worth individuals. Over the past year, she’s handled numerous complicated real estate transactions, set up and managed multiple businesses for her clients, and, of course, talked to them about AI. “I’m hearing that they’re using AI to help them in their daily lives for different things,” says Davis, “but they’re terrified of what it’s going to be for the industry.”

Sally Velazquez
President
Tracy Miller
VP, operations
Empower Business Management

With Velazquez and Miller at the helm, Empower has grown alongside longtime clients like 21 Savage. Whether discussing catalog sales or how to invest funds, their business is so strong that Empower is adding a second office to better serve East Coast and U.K. clients. While Velazquez appreciates how AI can boost productivity, hearing an AI musician was offered a $3 million contract scares her. “You can make [AI] sound like Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey put together, but how are we going to connect with the music? Music is something you connect to as a story. The reason Taylor Swift is so popular is because we listen to her songs and want to know who she’s talking about, or because we like her and her backstory.”

Elizabeth Campos
Founding partner
Jack Sinoryan
Founding partner
Evolve Business Management

If you don’t think Elizabeth Campos is as resourceful as she is resilient, you haven’t heard about how she was recently recommended by an A-lister to help a friend who was about to lose her home to auction. “That was no easy task,” recalls Campos, who has 27 years of business management experience under her belt. “But I saved everything, having the agility and the resources to get it done. It’s a real testament to what we do at Evolve.” Evolve has only been around 15 months, but Campos and Sinoryan, who specializes in taxation, think its size makes for a nice client fit for its high-profile actor-and-musician roster. “Being a smaller firm allows us to make decisions quicker,” says Sinoryan, whose proactive approach, rather than a reactive one, eliminates hurdles.

Paul Barnabee
Director of West Coast operations
Julie Boos
Owner, chairman
David Boyer
Owner, vice president
Jamie Cheek
Owner, CEO
Duane Clark
Owner, president
Carmen Romano
Owner, vice president
FBMM

FBMM’s Nashville-based CEO/co-owner Cheek says the adage “fame before fortune” is very true. “Creatives think that they should be making and have a lot of money way before it starts to accumulate.” VP/co-owner Romano, who works out of the 35-year-old firm’s New York office, concurs, adding it’s not just the clients who think that but also those around them. “I always say that the hardest part of the job is protecting the client from themselves,” he says. A philosophy of financial health and strength is being promoted to a client roster that includes A-list musical artists such as Keith Urban, Eric Church, Kelly Clarkson, Luke Combs and Kings of Leon. According to Cheek, some touring costs have increased significantly since the COVID-19 pandemic, a trend attributed to the large number of acts now on the road. “Artists are having to lock in 12-month longer-term bus leases in order to secure the seven buses that they need for five months, because everybody else is doing it. That is not sustainable.”

Heads, business management
Focus Partners Wealth

Working for a company that has been rebranded from the Colony Group to Focus Partners Wealth, this first couple of business management has been happily married 26 years and currently preside over $150 billion worth of assets from their Calabasas office.  Amir Malek — whose clients range from Grammy-winning, multi-platinum-selling recording artists and numerous music producers, TV and film directors, social media influencers and sports entertainment brands — specializes in domestic and international tax compliance, catalog evaluation, treasury management and financial concierge services. Pam Malek is a renowned expert in concert tour planning and associated global budgeting, concert merch commerce and tax planning for superstar musicians. Pam notes that if a client has an emergency, the duo is resourceful.

Founding principal
Forward Business Management

Curry says he’s hit his stride with his boutique firm, which has a roster that spans musical artists and producers (the Audibles, Dave Hamelin, Angélica Garcia), record labels (Kartel Music), actors (Holt McCallany, Kelly Greyson), directors (Anya Adams), showrunners (Mary Leah Sutton), voiceover artists (Rino Romano, Grey Griffin) and influencers (Danny Casale, Caleb Simpson). But that doesn’t mean there aren’t challenges. An expert at tracking artists’ royalties, he frequently sees new clients struggle to produce a comprehensive list of their credits. “I’m like, ‘So you’re an owner of a shoe store? You don’t have an inventory of your shoes?’’ says Curry. “We basically find out that more than half the stuff this client has has never been collected.”

Partners
Freemark Financial

The industry is contracting, but Freemark’s clients are doing quite well, thank you. During bad times, “the strong companies get stronger, right? And, the weak companies tend to go out of business,” says Rodriguez, whose roster includes cinematographers Greig Fraser (“Dune” movies), Hoyte van Hoytema (“Oppenheimer”) and Linus Sandgren (“Jay Kelly”), Accenture Song CEO David Droga, the production shingle Smuggler and ad agency Mojo Supermarket. Nonetheless, his partner Meyer (who handles “Wicked” director Jon M. Chu and actors Jessica Chastain, Kelly Giddish, Kathryn Hahn, Ellen Pompeo, Alexander Skarsgård, Vince Vaughn and Constance Wu) says some clients have explored moving away from high income tax states like California, but, “as they spent more time in the state where they were contemplating moving to, they decided there’s maybe some reasons why we don’t want to do this.”

CEO and managing director
Gelfand, Rennert & Feldman

Beem is proud to carry on the legacy of 58-year-old Gelfand, Rennert & Feldman, which he joined in 1998. Since being named CEO in 2022, he has continued to represent A-list talent in film, music and television, while strengthening the film’s capabilities as a business management hub for parent company Focus Financial Partners, building its accounting, tax, royalty examination and film participation accountings, valuation services and tour accounting. “Things are ever-changing, and we have to be flexible,” he says.

Managing directors
Gelfand, Rennert & Feldman

Since being acquired by Focus Financial Partners in 2017, Gelfand, Rennert & Feldman has been able to take advantage of its parent company’s vast reach and infrastructure. But for this sextet of Los Angeles-based managing directors, the nuts and bolts of servicing their roster of A-list stars, directors, musicians, producers, production companies, composers, athletes, influencers, execs and ultra-high-net-worth individuals remains largely the same as it’s always been. “Maybe there are a few more credit cards or a few more bills to pay,” says Cohn. “The complication comes with the planning. There are many more opportunities out there for us to research for our clients.” They’re also helping clients explore the idea of leaving California or New York to reduce their taxes or the United States for political reasons. “They say, ‘We just got done filming in the U.K. What if I don’t come back?’” explains Lloyd. “I say test the waters,” adds Cohn. “The grass isn’t always greener.”

Managing directors
Gelfand, Rennert & Feldman

Kamelhar and Pamer are two of the business management stars in Gelfand, Rennert & Feldman’s New York City office. Pamer encourages his diverse cross-section of film, TV, music and fashion industry clients to focus more on investments like stocks, because “portfolios cost very little money to maintain and grow more rapidly than personal real estate does.” Kamelhar is more music-focused, handling successful tours for clients Paul Simon and Def Leppard in 2025, while continuing to assist in overseeing Billy Joel’s music and publishing catalogs. AI is top of mind for many of his clients, who, like other celebs, fear its potential abuses, but are also excited by its upsides, from using it to protect their copyright interests to its potential as a creative tool. With AI, “you could have 30 samples within 10 minutes to kind of open up your mind to how to work.”

Partner
Gettleson Witzer & O’Connor

Gettleson — who counts Gracie Abrams, Ava DuVernay and Sterlin Harjo among his clients — says global unrest and uncertainty have some high-wealth clients wanting to shift investments to gold, crypto and legal offshore accounts. He understands the desire to protect their assets, but AI isn’t making his job easier. “AI becomes another Google — clients are very good at getting tax advice from a trusted source called Google,” he says. “They’ll say, ‘Hey, I looked this up, here it is.’ It’s maybe three-quarters of the way there, but there’s sometimes some big flaws we have to work through to make sure the information is correct.”

CEO, founder
Gold Business Management

Soul songwriter Teddy Swims, boygenius’ Julien Baker, heavy metal kingpins Lamb of God and Gojira and L.A.-based music and sports management company Milk & Honey are just a few of Gold’s longtime clients, some of whom have been with him and his staff of six for decades. Based in Port Washington, N.Y., Gold — whose firm offers a wide range of services ranging from bookkeeping and tour and royalty accounting to business formation and financial reporting — stresses that clarity and comprehension are his priorities when explaining financial matters. “I’m dealing with creative people and translating these numbers into a dialect they understand,” says Gold, a Wharton School of Business graduate with a bachelor’s degree
in economics.

Managing directors
Ground Control Business Management

Ground Control has three offices in the L.A. area and a pair in the U.K., with 43 employees and executives at the beck and call of its roster of actors, producers, writers, directors, professional athletes and entrepreneurs. They provide clients everything from CFO and family office services to financial and estate planning. But one of the most valuable things they offer is basic, common-sense advice, like Gonzalez’s mantra “get it in writing and make sure there’s a trail somewhere” and Borda’s pleading “don’t make a rash decision.” Most of all, clients need to think long- term, suggests Shelley: “I had a client who swore he was going to die from cancer at 60 and he’s 70 now,” he relates. “Now we’re talking about retirement strategies he didn’t think about before.”

Business managers
Guterman & Rosenberg

The 10-member boutique firm formed in 2021 supervises the financial welfare of prominent digital media personalities, rappers and DJs, as well as traditional film and TV talent. It takes a forward-looking approach to AI, utilizing the ever-changing tech to better serve its roster. “We are using AI to summarize a lot of work with our clients,” says Guterman. “[With] our overall software, our way of paying bills, our way of communication, we’re a lot more nimble than other firms, and technology allows us to do that.” Adds Rosenberg: “AI has been helpful for us in explaining concepts to our non-business-minded clients. They know we have their back.”

Gary Schneider
Managing partner
Jason Schneider
Partner
Kessler, Schneider & Scheltinga

Business management has been a family affair for father-and-son team Gary and Jason Schneider: Gary’s business manager father founded Gurley Schneider, while his brother-in-law, David Weise, has his own firm that’s a division of NKFSB.  “I always figured this path was destined for me at some point,” says Jason, who achieved his CPA and tax master accreditation after joining Kessler, Schneider & Scheltinga. Gary says the duo knows every aspect of the boutique business, with a pair of offices in the Sherman Oaks and Brentwood sections of Los Angeles serving a list of 100 clients that includes actors Alyson Hannigan and Ed Helms, ex-“CSI” showrunner Carol Mendelsohn and film and TV productions. “[We have] the tax aspect, the insurance aspect. And even though we don’t do the investments, we do oversee the investment portfolios and budgeting, so we’re both incredibly well-rounded.”

Owner
L&L Business Management

Kenney’s clients include comedy touring companies, as well as individual performers like Awkwafina and Tiffany Haddish. She encourages clients to invest in themselves — perhaps creating a beauty or wellness brand — so they can own their own content instead of simply investing in or doing endorsements for other companies. Kenney says issues with fraud and bank security are of growing concern to her and her clients. “Cyber fraud is huge right now, and it feels like it’s been over the last two to three years that it’s just increasing. You have to make sure that these entertainers’ [identities] are protected but also be protected in the financial side as well.”

CEO, founder
LC Business Management

Cooper hung her own business management shingle in 2024, after 15 years representing music industry icons including Stefan Gordy (Redfoo of LMFAO), Medium Build, Børns and Molly Santana. She opened with fewer than 10 clients and three employees and now has 20 clients and nine people on staff. Positive word-of-mouth from clients helps, but so does her impressive track record, like building and managing finances for Travis Scott’s Circus Maximus Tour, the highest-grossing solo rap tour to date. “I run a lot of companies for clients, but now I also have to focus on my own business,” she says. “That’s been a little bit of a learning curve, but a good one.”

Matt Lichtenberg
Mark Friedman
John Rigney
Charles Clancy
Partners and business managers
Mark Cattalini, Paul Ta
Business managers
Level Four Business Management

According to Level Four’s Cattalini, they’re still unraveling the tax implications of President Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill. But one thing’s for sure: with inflation, “any kind of tax savings or benefits that people were expecting are getting washed away because of the high cost of living, especially in California or New York,” he says. Their roster is both starry and diverse, toplined by big names including Samuel L. Jackson, Danny McBride (Rigney), Quentin Tarantino (Friedman), Will Ferrell, Larry David, Joe Rogan (Lichtenberg), filmmakers Phil Lord and Chris Miller (Clancy), writer/producers Patrick Somerville and David Weil (Cattalini), Cheech Marin and Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst (Ta). Like everyone else, they’re assessing the future implications of AI, but right now, they’re mostly using it for basic research on things like how to register a car in Texas. “It’s still kind of like in the old days with Google,” says Cattalini. “You’ve got to [search] three or four times to make sure it’s legit.”

Steve Gelon
Alex Smith
Co-managing partners
Justin Sroka
Van Lee
Partners
Mann Gelon Smith Sroka Lee

January saw the promotion of Smith, Sroka and Lee at the 58-year-old L.A. sports and entertainment company, which boasts clients from the worlds of film, TV and music, along with high-net-worth individuals. “It’s a good reflection of who we are now and where we’re going,” says Lee, who specializes in managing Hollywood estates, a complement to her roster of front-of-camera talent. She advises her clients to have informative talks with their intended beneficiaries as a crucial part of estate planning to “pave a smoother pathway not only for the benefactor, but also business managers and advisors.” She’s also concerned about evolving technologies. “You can buy your identity for $.03 on the dollar, so there’s going to be more prevalent issues where we have to stay on top of protecting clients, whether it’s locking down their credit, scrubbing their public record or sheltering their identity through a privacy trust or LLC.”

Founding partner
J. McIlwee & Associates

McIlwee says he started out on the pre-med track at UCLA, but “wised up after my first chemistry class” and got a degree in economics. That long- ago decision has clearly served him well, because today his boutique firm boasts a roster that includes Kevin Costner, Kristen Wiig, Maura Tierney, Valorie Curry, Kerry Condon, Jonathan Groff, Jane Lynch and director Matt Reeves and his 6th and Idaho production company, as well as rising stars Graham Campbell (“The Shards”), Belissa Escobedo (“Happy’s Place”), Shannon Gisela (“M.I.A.”) and Michael Provost (“9-1-1: Nashville”). McIlwee advises his clients to remain as unencumbered as possible. “With so many different things coming at people from all directions, I see real value in the ability to be nimble and react quickly,” he says.

Managing director, wealth management advisor, sports & entertainment, accredited wealth advisor
Merrill/Bank of America

Now splitting time between his Atlanta office and a new office in Beverly Hills, Baker — who’s been with Merrill for 20 years — sees parallels between the unpredictable nature of show business careers and the investment world. In both arenas he says success comes from being prepared and taking advantage of opportunities as they arise. Baker also pays his success forward. “Every year I award 25 college scholarships to seniors from my high school alma mater in a little bitty town called Crossville, Ala. To date, I’ve awarded over 100 scholarships. It’s something that makes me remember where I came from, and it keeps me humble.”

Christine Choi
Business management partner
Daniel Marcus
Business management partner
Michael Meschures
Business management partner
Tony Smalls
Partner, head of entertainment, sports & media
MGO

As the leader of MGO’s entertainment, sports and media practice, Smalls has been adding new services on top of business management, including name, image, likeness (NIL) consulting, tour accounting, royalty audits and catalog advisory. But some of the most valuable services it offers its client roster — which is a mix of film, TV and music talent and companies, digital influencers and athletes, as well as execs and high-net-worth families — are less tangible. “Maneuvering the emotions, and when’s the right time to tell them what, and how to present it so it’s received how you intend it to be received are skills that aren’t taught in school — that takes this time to develop,” he says. One of things they’re urging clients to do in this time of industry contraction is diversify. “You can’t just be a film and TV actor and not have a platform or a presence where you might be able to earn money on endorsements or maybe some content creation,” says Meschures.

Michael Kaplan
Managing partner
Justine Ruffalo
Partner
Marlena Kaplan
Chief financial officer
Miller Kaplan

Ruffalo works mostly with musicians, producers and companies in the music investment space, while Michael Kaplan helps clients from all areas of the entertainment industry generate financial security allowing them to pursue their creative passions, and Marlena Kaplan (no relation to Michael) ensures the firm holds its own as a large boutique firm. While music catalog sales remain strong, clients are also investing in technology and real estate. The CPAs at Miller Kaplan are dedicated to protecting their clients’ interests, be it selling IP, downsizing for retirement or launching new businesses. “There are a lot of bad actors out there, and we have to protect our clients’ information and assets,” Ruffalo says, adding that fraud is so rampant that banks offer webinars about hackers. “Firms really need to invest in cybersecurity. ”

Mark Landesman
Scott Landesman
Paul Zukowsky
Eric Binder
Partners
Jessica Mooney
Chief operating officer
ML Management

When Mark Landesman started ML Management in 1988 with a young Eddie Murphy as a client, he couldn’t have foreseen it would become a family business. Zukowsky and Mooney have worked alongside him since the early 2000s, and son Scott joined about a decade later. Earlier this year, Binder rolled his practice into ML, and he now heads the L.A. office. Their ever-growing list of clients — mostly from the comedy space — recognize the power of that kinship. Whether advising business investments or assisting with wildfire remediation, rebuilding and insurance claims, the entire ML team helps clients navigate the ups and downs of their professional and personal lives. AI is something Scott Landesman says most of their clients needn’t worry about. “Live entertainment isn’t something that AI would be able to replicate very easily, versus TV and film and anything on screens. It’s going to be very difficult for AI to replicate live sports, live comedy, live music.”

Founder, partner
Neuman + Associates, a division of NKSFB

With a stellar roster that includes actors Scarlett Johansson, Zoe Saldaña, Cynthia Erivo, Jonah Hill and Sean Hayes, prolific writer-producer-showrunner Ryan Murphy and Ellen DeGeneres, Neuman’s 34-year-old firm has been able to weather the current industry contraction. Nonetheless, his clients are increasingly branching out into consumer products, from liquor to cosmetics. But many are still feeling the sting of the cap placed on state and local tax (SALT) deductions from federal taxes back in 2017. The cap was increased from $10,000 to $40,000 in 2025, “but that’s still nothing for people that make the kind of money that my clients make,” says Neuman, adding “once deductions get taken away, they almost never come back.”

Mickey Segal
Founding, managing partner
Michael Karlin
Founding partner
David Bolno
Steve Landau
Matt Segal
Diane Vaughn
Partners
NKSFB

The NKSFB sextet has more than a century and a half of collective business management experience. They are led by Karlin and Segal, who founded the firm in 1981 with four employees and three clients. Since being acquired by Focus Financial Partners in 2018, the firm has gobbled up boutique shops including David Weise & Associates, Neuman + Associates, CRM Management and Ross Bennet Smith. Today, their clients include a mix of entertainers, producers, directors, musicians, publishers, athletes, execs, digital influencers and high-net-worth individuals for whom they do everything from facilitating giant music catalog deals to reviewing real estate transactions, private equity investments, international tour budgets and intricate tax and estate planning. “The way that clients want to see their financial information, you have to be able to cater to what they want and what is visually beneficial to them,” says Matt Segal, who has been practicing for 15 years. “And not one client is the same.”

Principal, managing partner
OTP Business Management

Muhammad brought two decades’ worth of private banking and wealth management experience to OTP in 2024. Maintaining strict client confidentiality, he helps award-winning artists, producers and creators reach personal and professional goals without sacrificing financial security. By ensuring clients understand the fundamentals of financial responsibility, he frees them to focus on their art. Muhammad says the current administration’s ever-changing policies and tariffs create uncertainty. “It makes it hard to plan big moves. If someone wanted to buy a music catalog, or wanted to invest in a tour or they wanted to finance a new production, that uncertainty is a big, big deal. Everyone has to take a wait-and-see moment right now.”

Mike Merriman
President, founder
Bryan Gott
Director of business management
Brandon Russell, Sunny Sanghera
Executive account managers
Megan Goodrich, Odette Moradians
Senior account managers
PARR/3

Merriman is a royalty hunter for his music business clients: “We actually track down royalties and proactively chase them for their clients. It’s another to thing to check if every song is on the statement from the client’s discography, make sure that the [songwriting copyright] splits are right and really verify this information.” Parr/3’s tenacity on this royalty-hunting front has resulted in an additional $5 million in “found money” for its music industry clients. “That’s money that would otherwise stay at the label or in the publisher’s pocket,” he notes. In addition to its other functions, the Los Angeles-based company — now in its 12th year, with 110 clients and more than $375 million in assets under its management — also provides services for bill payment, cash flow management, tour planning, tax preparation and personal financial management. “We’re here to empower and educate clients, help them understand how their money works and really take ownership of it,” adds Gott.

Tony Peyser
David Alexander
Founding partners
Mark Mingelgreen
Managing partner
Jack Ketover
Partner
Peyser & Alexander

The team at Peyser & Alexander guides clients toward opportunities for financial growth, while steering them clear of unnecessary risks. The boutique firm works vertically and horizontally to ensure its client roster, highlighted by top authors and broadcast personalities, have access to experts in all disciplines from building their personal investment portfolios and estate tax planning to the transfer of generational wealth, while staying aware of their creative needs. “Every few years something new pops up in all our lives — wildfires, market crashes, wars, crypto, AI, new investment themes — and a steady approach to overseeing the entire eco-system of a client seems to ‘foot the bill,’ so to speak,” Peyser says, adding that recently a growing number of clients have expressed interest in investment opportunities with AI, blockchain and crypto, as well as cybersecurity. To mitigate risks inherent in the tech sector, the partners help clients invest in those new areas while protecting their investments and cash flow.

Joseph P. Callaghan
Mark Carter
Joseph Rust
Partners
Thomas F. Smith
Partner, entertainment industry leader
Prager Metis

Prager Metis’ Smith has a great reminder for clients who may feel intimidated when discussing their finances: you’re in the driver’s seat. “Make changes when necessary if you don’t like the way your business is being conducted,” advises Smith, who works out of the New York City office alongside Callaghan. “It’s not your manager’s money … it’s not your business manager’s money … it’s not your lawyer’s money to spend. It’s your money.”  The firm has 24 offices in locations ranging from London (Carter’s homebase) to the Cayman Islands, caring for the financial needs of a roster that encompasses everyone from globally popular music stars to franchise TV producers. While it’s well-equipped to handle the big stuff — services include royalty audit and contract compliance, tour accounting and profit participation and I.P. valuations — Smith says no financial detail should be too small for the Prager Metis team. “You need to be aware of how your money’s being saved, invested, how your taxes are being paid, all of that stuff,” says Smith.

Partners, managing directors
PS Business Management

The three members of this PS Business Management team are spread out across the U.S., with Moore in Nashville, Templeman in New Orleans and Gittleman Blom in its New York headquarters. The firm’s strength is music. Moore’s clients include Lizzo, Billie Eilish and Benson Boone, while Templeman handles 21 Pilots, Chappell Roan, Big Thief and Ethel Cain. The biggest challenge? The cost of touring, which has “just gotten to be kind of astronomical,” according to Moore. “Pre-COVID, a really nice tour would net 30%-35% for the artists at the end of the day, and now we’re looking at more like 15%-25%. The same thing has happened on the merch side, where take home used to be closer to 30%, and now it’s more like 15%-20%.” But, she adds, “There are so many opportunities for brand deals and sponsorships and social media posts that are monetized,” along with other things like photo books, bios and documentaries.

Managing Partner
PTD Business Management

DerParseghian alleviates clients’ financial stress so they can focus on creativity and not worry about having to take a job they don’t want because they need the money. To do that, she’s become a great listener. “The way we build wealth around a client — or help them grow their wealth — is by really understanding what their dreams and aspirations are,” explains DerParseghian, whose roster is populated by music, film and TV heavyweights. “What we do really, really well is literally sit and listen to the client so we’re able to build something around them that is very specific to their vision, their goal and their aspiration — not only for them, but for their families, if they have growing families.”

Founding partners
Reback Lee & Co.

The Emmys, Grammys, Oscars and Tonys have all been accounted for — literally — by firm co-founder Reback, who first scored the financial equivalent of the EGOT in 2021. Those aren’t the only production accounting credentials Reback has earned: he’s also worked the SAG Awards and the FIFA Club World Cup Halftime Show. “It’s a compacted timeline and things need to be done daily,” Reback notes. “We sometimes process 500-600 checks a day between all shows.” Lee, with whom Reback began working in 1995, oversees the business management and tax side of the business, although Reback helps when he can. “We don’t look to change things when they’re working,” Lee says. “We help when it makes sense.” 

Jordan L. Josephs
Managing partner
Desiree Nunez
Partner
Royal Entertainment Business Management (REBM)

Josephs opened REBM in spring 2024, serving clients throughout entertainment, sports and other industries. Specializing in music clients, their roster includes a top-tier musician who’s producing a horror film, acting and hosting horror conventions. An equity partnership stake Josephs advised a client on was worth $300 million when that company sold for $1 billion. “Business managers look at things in a vacuum of dollars and cents, money in, money out and what a business model should look like, but there’s context we also have to look at,” he says. “Maybe a business opportunity where we just break even helps build the client’s brand or exposure to where they’re selling more merch or selling more tickets. It’s hard to determine the return-on-investment, but there is an inherent return on that investment.” 

Rick Schenkel
Partner, Southern California
Steve Levitt
Marta Botten
Partners, business management
Richey May

In September 2025, Sobul, Primes & Schenkel merged with several other firms under the Richey May brand, creating a unified national advisory and accounting platform that is effectively “six firms in six different cities and about 600 people,” says Schenkel, who founded his company as USXA back in the 1980s. SPS clients were already well-served by in-house talent like Levitt, a taxation and business planning expert with more than 40 years of experience who joined the firm in 1996, and IRS-enrolled agent Botten, a quarter-century-plus veteran who concentrates on strategic oversight regarding the finances of recording and touring musicians, film and TV actors, directors and high net-worth individuals. But Schenkel says the new arrangement gives his roster flexible options and added tools, including improved cybersecurity. “We now have the ability to work with these other groups across the country,” he notes. “This means having resources to make strategic acquisitions, other strategic moves and a really different mindset the way financing is done at the firm.”

Andrew Blackman
Wesley Childs
Robert E. Grubman
Marc D. Zand
Partners
Ron Myers
California managing partner
Schulman Lobel

With four out of five partners based out of the Big Apple and the pending launch of a Florida office, Schulman Lobel has been bolstering the services they offer their creative clients. “This year, we brought a state and local tax partner,” says Grubman. “We also brought in a forensic evaluation partner, which comes up in the business management world, for royalty auditing or valuations needed for client investments.” Like his New York teammates, Sherman Oaks-based Myers can call on more than three decades of business management and tax consulting experience to service his clients, which include Brian Cox, actor Kate Flanagan, DJs the Martinez Brothers and the estates of Bob Fosse, Gwen Verdon and William Goldman. Just as important are the soft skills it employs to shield its monied clients from things like the outstretched hands of friends and family. “We as business managers don’t want to blow up their relationships, but we have to protect them,” says Zand.

Partners
Shephard Tinglof + Associates

Shephard and Tinglof’s firm has been around for more than 30 years, but they’re still encountering new economic wrinkles to iron out for their clients, which include Courteney Cox, Ben Stiller. Jon Favreau and director Michael Engler (“The Gilded Age”). For instance, with film and TV productions increasingly shooting outside the U.S., they’re dealing with more and more foreign tax issues. “I have a child actor that worked a show that was in Australia last year, and I had to try to hire an Australian accountant to do all the applications for getting the tax rate reduced, because if you don’t do anything, the rate is like 45%,” says Tinglof. “So you have to kind of work a deal with the government to get the tax withholding rate down to something reasonable, like 19%, roughly.”

Managing partner
Singer Burke

Earlier this year, Burke guided his 53-year-old business management firm Singer Burke and its sister company, investment advisor SB Capital Management, through their acquisition by Mercer Advisors, a national wealth management platform with $86 billion in client assets. Burke says, “It fulfills a multi-decade vision to bring comprehensive financial services under one roof, which is how we believe that we deliver the best advice and outcomes for clients,” which include actors, composers, directors, producers, showrunners, writers and management-production companies  that have been involved in projects ranging from “Bridgerton” to “The Family Guy.” “This is going to allow us to expand beyond Southern California into other creative hubs around the nation and internationally,”
he adds.

Steven Shapiro
Owner, founder
James Nagel
Business management partner
Summit Business Management

Summit has a roster of 500 clients, including high-profile names such as Taylor Sheridan, Zendaya, Tom Holland, “Weird Al” Yankovic, Vanessa Hudgens, Justin Hartley, Aaron Paul, Elliot Gould and director Gavin O’Connor (“The Accountant 2”), along with a wealth of below-the-line talent. With the guild strikes, the ongoing decline in local production, rising housing costs and the January fires, the latter of which damaged or destroyed the homes of 18 clients, it’s been a tough few years for the Hollywood community, leading a fair number to leave California. “It’s not only the cost of buying a house and the rates of interest but, unfortunately, the crime element as well,” says Shapiro. “A lot of people just say it’s not the California that we moved to 50 years ago.”

Founder, CEO
TKG Business Management

Beverly Hills-based Klein is a bit of an anomaly: aside from TKG, he’s also partnered with the band the Chainsmokers in Mantis Venture Capital. However, he draws the line between church and state when it comes to a conflict of interest: “I don’t allow my clients to invest in Mantis,” he says. With 150 clients amassed over the past four-and-a-half years — including music artists Charlie Puth, Jessie Murph, Shaboozey, Big Sean, Logic and several sports figures — Klein says the key to success is to take your profession seriously. “Be passionate about what you do — but realize it’s a job. You have an obligation and a responsibility to support yourself and your family if you have one.”

Owners
Topline Business Management

McGill and Meyer have a broad mix of clients, from TV host Karamo Brown to director Adam Wingard. While McGill says some film and TV clients are seeing fewer post-strike work opportunities due to scaled-back production, Meyer has noticed comedians and other stage acts are doing well, perhaps because of a post-pandemic desire for live performances. One trend they’ve noticed is an L.A. exodus. “We’ve had several clients move out of the state,” McGill says. “They’re more established talents, so they’re able move away from the city and still get work. High-level talent, like a showrunner, can work from anywhere these days. We have clients who have done that. They’re happier now being close to family and can come back to L.A. when needed.”

Heather Kinder
Chief of staff
Peggy Stephens
Chief operating officer
Bret Guest
Business manager
Tri Star Sports & Entertainment Group

“We are in the service industry, and we all have a service heart,” states Kinder, a former Tennessee Titans cheerleader who was recently promoted by her boss Lou Taylor to equity partner (along with Stephens, chief deputy director Deedra Carroll, and new addition, chief growth officer Lahteefah “Lah” Parramore). She’s a 14-year veteran of a practice that offers not only accounting, financial and asset protection services, but also visa and immigration assistance and even aircraft and yacht management to a mixed clientele of actors, artists, athletes, entrepreneurs and executives. Flanked by detail-driven Stephens, a master of tax, real estate and asset strategies, and Guest, who focuses on brand extension and catalog valuation and monetization, Kinder says her job allows her to see how the other half lives as she makes big-ticket purchases on their behalf. “I’ve bought yachts, airplanes, multi-million-dollar houses,” she notes. “That’s fun!”

CEO, founder
Tri Star Sports & Entertainment Group

Taylor’s 33-year-old firm Tri Star recently added a new location to complement its offices in Nashville and West Hollywood, establishing an East Coast presence in Miami with the acquisition of Lahteefah “Lah” Parramore’s the LRW Group. The move also added another collection of entertainers, athletes and high-net-worth individuals to its already-rich roster, which includes recording artists Justine Skye, Shenseea and Tyler Hubbard, actors Taraji P. Henson, Jodie Turner-Smith and Charles Melton, models Taylor Hill and Adriana Lima and the Prince estate. And as she grows her business with bold, proactive moves, so do her clients. “I’ve never seen the amount of talent-owned ideation and brand-building that’s going on,” says the New York native. “That’s really where value sits.”

Founding partner
David Weise & Associates, a division of NKSFB

Some people say the touring business is slowing down, but Weise insists he hasn’t seen it with his clients, which include Coldplay, the Weeknd, Usher, Lil Wayne and Carole King. Weise says he doesn’t have any creative abilities, but he excels at communicating with creatives, a talent he feels is sometimes overlooked. And if they don’t listen? “Then you may have to move on,” he says. “You have a fiduciary responsibility to your clients to do what’s right and to always speak your mind. At the end of the day, because it’s the client’s decision, you can only guide them to what you can do.”

Founder, CEO
Yorkshire Management Group

Yorkshire is the rare business manager who dreamed of entering the profession when he was a kid, thanks to his father’s longtime friendship with legendary business manager Bernie Gudvi. “I saw my dad getting free concert tickets and merch at the shows,” says Yorkshire. “And I remember thinking, so if you’re a business manager, you get free stuff. That’s the coolest thing in the world.” Today, he services a music-centric client list that’s hip-hop and pop-heavy, with a lot of social media crossover on TikTok and other platforms. Having dealt with a lot of “spirited personalities” over the years, he knows how to communicate with his clients. “They don’t need a three-hour soliloquy about how taxes work,” he says. “As long as they understand that I understand, people start to feel comfortable, and that builds a lot of trust. The nature of the conversations changes.”