NITO Reelects Wayne Forte, Signals Continued Push on Ticketing Rules

The National Independent Talent Organization has elected a new slate of officers, keeping Wayne Forte of Entourage Talent Associates in place as president while elevating Stormy Shepherd of Leave Home Booking to vice president.

Nelly Neben of Axis Artist Management was reelected treasurer, while Amy Butterer of outer/most was elected secretary. The officers will lead NITO’s recently elected board, which includes new members Thomas Cussins of Ineffable Music Group, Alex Fang of New Frontier Touring, Liz Pjesky of High Road Touring and Amanda Silecchio-Frederick of Madison House.

The officer election follows NITO’s broader board vote earlier this year, which placed the organization back into several ongoing live-event policy fights, including the Live Nation-Ticketmaster antitrust case, artist and venue data issues, ticketing fees and resale restrictions.

“I congratulate my fellow officers and thank the Board for the vote of confidence to lead NITO for another term,” Forte said in the announcement. “We’ve made great strides strengthening our organization, advocating for our members and their artists, and fighting for fairness in industry practices, reasonable ticketing fees and resale, performing rights, data sharing and more. But there is so much more to do.”

Forte added that he “cannot recall a more crucial time for the entire independent live industry,” saying NITO will “work tirelessly to make a difference.”

NITO describes itself as representing U.S. independent agents, managers and the artists they work with. Its policy posture, however, has also put it directly in the middle of the ticketing debate, particularly around resale. As TicketNews previously reported, NITO has backed positions including face-value-or-below resale, artist control over resale terms, speculative ticketing restrictions and limits on secondary-market fees — proposals critics argue would narrow or effectively eliminate much of the competitive resale marketplace.

That tension remains central to NITO’s agenda. The organization has been sharply critical of Live Nation and Ticketmaster’s market power, while also supporting resale restrictions that overlap with policy priorities favored by primary-market interests. For resale advocates and marketplaces, NITO’s leadership changes are less a routine trade-group reshuffle than a signal that the organization will continue pressing its preferred ticketing reforms as courts, lawmakers and regulators weigh the future of live-event access.

The full officer slate includes Forte as president, Shepherd as vice president, Neben as treasurer and Butterer as secretary. Re-elected board members include Adam Bauer of Dynamic Talent International, Jon Grau of Thirty Tigers, Randy Nichols of Fly South Music Group, Steve Schenck of TKO, Scott Sokol of Pinnacle Entertainment, Michel Vega of Magnus Talent Agency and Matt Yasecko of ROAM.

Additional board members serving current terms include David Gottlieb of Death Or Glory, Fielding Logan of Q Prime, Maria Matias of Maria Matias Music and Jack Randall of The Kurland Agency.