At this year's Women In Music Awards, we celebrated the achievements of game-changing executives and artists as the industry came together to honour their work. Music Week has spoken to the winners in all 14 categories to tell their stories. Here, Colleen Theis, winner of our International Woman Of The Year award, tells her industry story…
As one of the leading names in the global music industry, Colleen Theis, hardly needs an introduction. But let's give one anyway. The current president and COO of The Orchard, spent 12 years in the UK before joining the global music distribution and artist services company in 2011 as managing director of UK and Europe. Now based in New York, the Texas native has spent the past 15 years expanding operations across 52 cities worldwide, overseeing key markets across the US, Canada, UK, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and Latin America. Under her leadership, The Orchard currently maintains the No.1 global market share among independent distributors.
A committed champion of diversity and inclusion, Theis has proudly helped the company achieve 50/50 gender parity across its global workforce, with women leading multiple territories and holding senior global roles across various divisions. She is also a lead advisor to employee-led organisations Women Of The Orchard, Women In Tech and the Council For Equity And Progressive Action.
In 2025, meanwhile, she was instrumental in launching The Orchard Physical European Network (OPEN), expanding physical distribution across Europe, the UK and Asia. She continues to guide major global distribution and partnership deals, while overseeing an extraordinarily diverse roster that includes Rimas Entertainment (Bad Bunny), Mass Appeal, LVRN, Napalm Records, Cleopatra Records, Frontiers Records, Oasis/Big Brother Recordings, Jorja Smith/FAMM, and Human Re Sources (Raye).
Ahead of being crowned International Woman Of The Year, Music Week talked to the highly-respected executive about her career, The Orchard, gender parity, the next generation, Raye, Bad Bunny and more...
How do you feel about winning this award?
“I'm incredibly honoured, surprised and grateful – all those things. To be in a room full of strong, powerful women and people who love and support women, in that atmosphere, is just electric. I'd been to the awards in the past, and it's always a really great day of celebrating the achievements of women across the industry. It's surreal, frankly, to now be one of those people.”
Because of your own journey, as well as mentoring women, does this mean more to you than other awards that you might get?
“Oh, yes. To be honoured in this way by a jury of peers and people within the industry who think I'm worthy of receiving it is actually immensely powerful. It’s gratifying. I was honestly very surprised and very appreciative. So, thank you very much. There were lots of people in that room who I’ve worked with for decades, as well as people who I've worked with since the beginning of their careers, too.”
When did The Orchard achieve 50/50 gender parity?
“Probably around 2020. I've been at the company for 15 years, and while there were certainly women in VP-level and above positions at The Orchard at that time, our company as a whole has grown significantly. Some of those women are still in key leadership positions today, like Laura Tesoriero, who runs our Latin division. But our headcount grew exponentially as well during that period. As we were going through the recruiting process, it became about looking for the best candidate, who may or may not have been in our existing networks, whereas in the past, when you have a smaller company and there's just one role open, it's like, 'Oh, I'm going to call this person because I know they know how to do the job.' So our growth actually lent itself to building a much more diversified team because we were recruiting for more positions. We were definitely going after all kinds of people. In more than 50% of those cases, we brought on a woman. Today, we have women running many of our country, global and regional divisions. Most of them were homegrown inside the company over the last decade, while others we've recruited from different industries like advertising or journalism.”
Are there any countries that are more patriarchal, per se, where it's surprising that you have a woman lead?
“Yeah. Mexico, Brazil, Italy, Spain, our whole Latin division – all run by women. Also, France, run by a woman, Benelux, run by a woman, South Korea, Japan, run by women. Oh, my God. Nashville, run by a woman. Our Los Angeles office, less surprising, but also run by a woman. Our global relationship strategy and our global commerce strategy, all women. The head of our sync division. Our comms person, obviously; PX [People Experience], that's what we call human resources. DE&I, all women. Interestingly, the territories where we have women in charge are the ones that you would historically think are the most patriarchal, but they've built amazing businesses, maintained great relationships with clients and our parent company, and led their teams brilliantly. Unsurprisingly, a lot of their teams are also female-leaning.”
Why do you think now is the time for you personally to be in the spotlight?
“Well, I think The Orchard has reached a level that is thankfully the highest it's ever been, continuing our growth year-on-year. We are in a position now where the industry is closely watching what we do. Leading by example and having strong female leadership across all countries and divisions sets the bar for others to emulate, hopefully.”
So, do you think you're at the top of your game?
“No, we're never at the top of our game [laughs]. I still suffer from some level of imposter syndrome, but I think that keeps me and The Orchard team hungry. We know the business just keeps moving, so we need to stay out in front, and keep evolving and learning more. Besides, how can I be at the top of my game? The industry is changing every day so rapidly.”
How do you think you're perceived by the UK's music industry?
“I'm not sure. I have dual citizenship and lived in the UK for 12 years, but I've been away now for 12 years – so it’s an even split. I think that people who have been in the business for a long time know me, but there is probably a whole new generation in the industry who have no clue who I am, which is fine [laughs]. As for how I'm perceived, I would hope that people view my time in the UK – and I actually was with three different companies during my tenure there – as helping transform the local industry, offering opportunities to women in particular and people generally, and building what has become such an important part of our industry, which is the distribution space. There were obviously many players before The Orchard; I was with one that was more traditional, and then moved to one that was definitely not traditional at that time.”
Having been away for a dozen years, what's your perspective on the UK industry now?
“It's very exciting to see some amazing new artists breaking through on their own terms. For me, UK music is always going to be among the top globally. For the variety and depth of genres that come out of a country that is relatively small in terms of population, it's had such an outsized impact on music and popular culture.
“It's great to see some really amazing women leading the way – the obvious ones, Adele, Olivia Dean, and our own Raye. These are women driving the business with their own vision and their own voice, while helping others do the same. So, obviously, the BRIT School is something that those artists have in common, and it's really cool that those kinds of opportunities are afforded to help nurture and develop talent across all facets of the creative industries – the business side, the technical side and the performing side. The committee that runs the BRITs, everything around that is, for me, just incredible. The results speak for themselves. It’s an incredibly impactful way to keep nurturing British talent and exporting it.”
If you could pinpoint the impact you've made on the company, one thing you’ve led the charge on, what might that be?
“Everything is always a team effort with us. But if I had to think about the global exec team, I'm the one that leans into the people. There are people that are strategy; there are people that are operational; there are people that are creative; there are people that are relationships and people-people. I think I'm a decent talent spotter and, hopefully, a good nurturer of that talent – whether it's internal people, people across the industry, young labels and managers, artists themselves. I'm not saying I'm a great A&R; I'm saying I know how to recognise and nurture talent.”
Leading by example and having strong female leadership across all countries and divisions sets the bar for others to emulate, hopefully
Colleen Theis, The Orchard
Based on the young people you’ve mentored, what's your view on the next generation?
“I'm learning from them every day. Nothing is ever going to stay the same as it was, and the greatest mistake that any person in their professional or personal life could make is to assume that tomorrow is always going to be like today. So, for us to be able to learn from the younger generation, the people who are going to be stewarding the industry, is absolutely critical.”
What are you seeing in them?
“They have an energy. They don't carry the baggage of the past or traditional ways of doing things, so they're not afraid to lean in and try a new approach to artist development – or work with an artist who doesn't fit into a certain genre or format. They don't care about any of that stuff. And that's amazing. Sure, they're digital natives and they're living their best lives behind a screen sometimes, but that's fine because that's where the world is going. You don't have to fully lean in, but you do have to accept that’s where the conversations are taking place, where opinions are being formed, and where loyalties and fandom grows, in addition to the live aspect. Data matters, of course, but nobody starts with a great data profile, right? It starts with a feeling, discovery and sharing something special with your friends and having them all feeling like they're part of something. This newest generation has that down better perhaps than any of us ever have, and they have more tools at their disposal to understand how to turn that into a meaningful business.”
Do you see ageism in the industry, where people with experience are being pushed out for younger blood?
“Sure. There's always this desire to bring in young minds who can see what's next, but understanding where we’ve come from is incredibly important for knowing where we can go. We still have Richard [Gottehrer], our 86-year-old founder, coming into the office several times a week. His main job description is to help teach the younger generations about how to link the past to the future – how to always keep an open mind while providing the business context to help drive where we’re going. So, sure, the easy knee-jerk reaction is for someone to say they're ‘too old’. And it's short-sighted. There's a big difference between someone who is super stuck in their ways and not willing to adapt and someone who is willing to keep their relationships fresh, read about what's happening, go out to shows, understand technology, be open to new business models, all of these things.”
In terms of artist stories The Orchard has been involved in, how do you reflect on Raye’s success in recent years?
“Oh, my gosh. Well, the talent was always there. It was just her clearing the path so that she could have a voice and deliver her own vision as an artist, rather than just a featured vocalist or contributor, in the exact style she wanted to do it. She's with Bruno [Mars] in America on a stadium tour right now, and she even flew home for one weekend to headline Reading and Leeds before flying right back to jump on the tour. Of course, she feels it, but it's less taxing because she's doing it on her own terms. She has her family management company, she owns the rights to her music, and she partners with Human Re Sources and us. She's getting to do it the way that she wants to do it.”
Bad Bunny has been another huge recent success story at The Orchard. Can you talk about the company’s relationship with him and how or why it works?
“It's a similar construct to what we talked about with Raye. He is fully in charge of his vision – his music, his style, the assets he releases, and the manner in which he releases them. We partner with him to make sure that it all goes smoothly, but we're definitely not telling him, 'That's a terrible idea. You shouldn't do it this way.' We're not saying, 'Oh, turn up the bass on this song.' It's all on him. And so full credit to Noah [Assad], who's his partner, who's the head of Rimas [Entertainment] and Benito [Antonio Martínez Ocasio, Bad Bunny’s real name] and the whole team that they have. They actually have a very strong vision for what they want to represent, and their bigger ‘why’ is about Puerto Rico and their pride in their island. That has been the consistent thread throughout their music the entire time and all of the campaigns, and it's obviously paid off. He gives a lot back to the island. He has a foundation [The Good Bunny Foundation/Fundación Good Bunny] and people like him because he's genuine, extremely talented and he's a good person. I'm sure there are many other great people out there who would love to have that kind of success, too. And hopefully some will. We need some new big superstars.”
What's next at The Orchard?
“Listen, our job is to make creatives. We are creative, but we're creative in a business sense. And our job is to make our creative partners' lives easier and help them reach their goals and their dreams. A lot of the time, we're getting direct feedback from them or taking them in to beta test new technical products or talking about perceived gaps and how we can make our business better. So, we're always going to be rolling out new offerings and fine- tuning what we do. For us, distribution is just the baseline. And then it's about that strategic relationship with the clients and how we help them grow their business, because ultimately we're working with entrepreneurs.”
Now you’ve got the floor, what's your message to women of all ages in the business?
“My message is to keep lifting each other up, to keep finding ways to widen the scope of opportunities for female artists, creatives and business people, and to work together to lift all boats for everybody.”
And your message for the wider industry?
“That message would be: don't undervalue music and intellectual property. We must defend the rights of artists at a time where things are changing so rapidly, and make sure that we're placing the right value on the human voice and human creativity.”
PHOTO: Louise Haywood-Schiefer/Panni Renner
