Frances W. Preston

• President and CEO of BMI from 1986 to 2004
• Member of the Country Music Hall of Fame ad Gospel Music Hall of Fame
• Recipient of the NARAS Heroes Award from the New York Chapter of the Recording Academy, the President's Award from the Nashville Songwriters Association International, the President's Award from the National Music Publishers' Association, the City of Hope "Spirit of Life" Award, and the Humanitarian Award from the International Achievement in Arts Awards in New York (twice)
• Led BMI to distribute the largest amount of royalties ever paid by an American performing rights organization (in 2004) and to build the world's most popular repertoire

In 1958, Frances W. Preston left WSM radio station to open a Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) southern regional office in Nashville to license performing rights for songwriters and music publishers. Preston led BMI to a position of preeminence in the south. In 1964, the year the Nashville BMI Building opened on Music Row, Preston became a vice president. Quickly moving up the ranks, she served as President and CEO of BMI from 1986 to 2004, during which time the company's revenue more than tripled to over $673 million. Under her leadership, BMI enjoyed a consistent record of increasing revenues and royalty distributions to its more than 300,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers. During the 2003/2004 fiscal year, BMI distributed the largest amount of royalties ever paid by an American performing rights organization, with international revenues also increasing to record numbers. From her early work signing Southern regional songwriters, to overseeing a company that represents the works of legendary international artists from Sting to Gloria Estefan, she led the effort to build BMI's repertoire into the world's most popular and delivered a royalty system to match. Not surprisingly, Fortune magazine called her "one of the true powerhouses of the pop music business." She was a well-known figure on Capitol Hill, frequently testifying in support of creators' rights. She maintained a passionate dedication to a number of the industry's leading charities and served as the non-salaried President of the largest medical charity, the T.J. Martell Foundation for Leukemia, Cancer and AIDS Research. Her involvement led to the creation of the Frances Williams Preston Research Laboratories at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center in Nashville, a research lab named in her honor.

She was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Gospel Music Hall of Fame. She was the recipient of the NARAS Heroes Award from the New York Chapter of the Recording Academy, the President's Award from the Nashville Songwriters Association International, the President's Award from the National Music Publishers' Association, and the City of Hope "Spirit of Life" Award. She twice received a Humanitarian Award from the International Achievement in Arts Awards in New York. Frances passed away in 2012, at the age of 83.

Inducted to the Music City Walk of Fame on April 22, 2007.