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Alex Heiche

Founder

Upon recognizing the sizable need for funding options that cater to music professionals and allow creatives to retain their copyrights, Alex Heiche founded Sound Royalties in 2014 and serves as the company’s Chief Executive Officer. His innate passion for music and strong roots in the music industry have greatly contributed to the firm’s success.

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Alex Heiche

Founder

Alex is a strong and outspoken music advocate, supporting the growth of songwriters, producers and artists, as well as highlighting the importance of musicians being compensated for their work while retaining their music rights and royalties. Alex possesses decades of experience in providing funds and finance raising strategies to music creatives, large annuity recipients, and professional athletes. He has worked with leading music industry professionals, including GRAMMY-Award winners, platinum recording artists and notable music industry executives in every genre, always with the utmost discretion and privacy.

A respected thought leader in the music business, Alex has shared his knowledge and insights at many industry events with organizations including the Recording Academy, BESLA, Sync Summit, the Los Angeles Digital Content Marketplace, as well as with music students at universities including Vanderbilt and Belmont. Additionally, Alex’s expert opinions have been featured in top publications such as The Wall Street Journal, Billboard, Rolling Stone, Music Business Worldwide, The Tennessean, Music Connection and Digital Music News.

Prior to founding Sound Royalties, Alex held executive roles in specialty finance firms and high-tech software companies. Alex graduated with a Bachelor of Science from the University of Maryland, College Park. He currently sits on the Advisory Board of the Music Biz Association, sits on the Nashville Chapter Sounding Board of the non-profit Free Guitars4Kids, is a member of the Recording Academy, Songwriters of North America, the Gospel Music Association, the Country Music Association, the Americana Music Association, A2IM, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, the Nashville Songwriters Association International, and is a lifetime member of BESLA and the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Michael Bizenov

President

Michael Bizenov, President of Sound Royalties, is a highly skilled executive with extensive experience in finance, strategic planning, and business development. Bringing a principled entrepreneurial management style to the company, Michael leads our innovative business, helping to shape its vision and lead its continued growth.

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Michael Bizenov

President

President of Sound Royalties, Michael Bizenov, is a highly skilled executive with extensive experience in finance, strategic planning, and business development. Bringing a principled entrepreneurial management style to the company, Michael leads our innovative business, helping to shape its vision and lead its continued growth.

Over the course of his distinguished career, Michael has successfully built and grown several companies, and has a proven track record of taking many promising businesses to the next level. Utilizing a diverse background in financial services, business strategy, management development and more, he is renowned not just for his keen acumen in planning and strategy, but also for his relentless commitment to effectively creating and executing business plans that foster growth and success.

Previously, Michael was a consultant for UBS and Litchfield Road Consulting, where he provided senior advisory support on business and strategy development, program implementation, financing, and overall business transformation. Prior to that, he spent 20 years in various executive roles at Sterling National Bank, helping grow the bank’s assets from under $1 billion to $15 billion and culminating his tenure there as the institution’s President of Consumer Banking.

Michael’s passion for music began at a young age when he learned to play the drums, and carries on today as an avid supporter and fan of a wide variety of music and the people who create it. Michael is also active in many community and charitable activities, including creating and leading a teen leadership development and mentoring program at a community center in Queens, NY, work as a trustee in various not for profit organizations, and serving as a long-time youth basketball coach and a board member of his local Catholic Youth Organization.

Chuck Lowe

Chief Financial Officer

Chuck Lowe is Sound Royalties’ Chief Financial Officer and functions as the Chief Credit and Risk Officer. Leading the areas of credit, risk, finance, and servicing, Chuck lends his potent expertise garnered through years of success operating in specialty finance firms.

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Chuck Lowe

Chief Financial Officer

Chuck Lowe is Sound Royalties’ Chief Financial Officer and functions as the Chief Credit and Risk Officer. Leading the areas of credit, risk, finance, and servicing, Chuck lends his potent expertise garnered through years of success operating in specialty finance firms.

Before serving as CFO at Sound Royalties, Chuck co-founded Novation Ventures in 2001, where he held positions of increasing responsibility in the asset securitization industry. Chuck played a leading role in arranging the financing and securitization of over one billion dollars in lottery prize, structured settlement (and other similar) cash flows.

Chuck received a bachelor degree from Yale University and a MBA from The Fuqua School of Business at Duke University. Chuck's impressive academic career and love for music has provided the Sound Royalties team with the necessary skills to be the leading financial firm in the music industry.

Michael Damore

Legal Counsel

Michael Damore has been the General Counsel for Sound Royalties since its inception in 2014 and serves as a member of the company’s Executive Committee. Michael manages legal matters related to Sound Royalties’ product development, underwriting, and financing its asset acquisitions.

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Michael Damore

Legal Counsel

Michael Damore has been the General Counsel for Sound Royalties since its inception in 2014 and serves as a member of the company’s Executive Committee. Michael manages legal matters related to Sound Royalties’ product development, underwriting, and financing its asset acquisitions.

Before his current role, Michael served as General Counsel for a specialty finance company where he managed the company’s legal, underwriting, and regulatory compliance. Early in his career, Michael practiced commercial law in Sacramento, California focused on business transactions and intellectual property rights. Michael graduated with highest honors from the University of California, Davis in 1987 with degrees in Economics and Political Science, and a law degree from the University of California, Davis.

Michael’s musical aptitude was noted at an early age as he learned to play the trumpet in middle school. With a passion for music and law, Michael has been an elite asset to the Sound Royalties team.

Barbara Ocasio

Executive Vice President of Operations

As the Executive Vice President of Operations at Sound Royalties, she successfully oversees the day to day operations by setting guidelines, procedures and risk management processes to ensure internal and external compliance.

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Barbara Ocasio

Executive Vice President of Operations

Barbara graduated from Palm Beach State College and brings more than 10 years of experience in specialty finance operations. As the Executive Vice President of Operations at Sound Royalties, she successfully oversees the day to day operations by setting guidelines, procedures and risk management processes to ensure internal and external compliance. An employee of Sound Royalties since day one, Barbara has developed crucial relationships within the music industry, and can often be found attending the various Latin music events and award shows throughout the year.

Meet Some of the Band

Management and Customer Facing Staff

Allison Portlock

Vice President of Marketing

Allison Portlock

Vice President of Marketing

Background:
A New York native living in South Florida, Allison is armed with experience in a variety of industries including music, technology expense management, hospitality, customer service, and e-commerce, all of which have contributed to her educated and inspired approach to marketing. Allison’s passion for music and writing can be found in the many pieces she has authored for concert reviews, album reviews, artist interviews, and music festival recaps. The crux of her trade lies in finding new, innovative ways to inform and entertain people not only in the business sphere, but in her personal relationships as well.

Musical Anecdote:
Allison’s very first CD was given to her for Christmas 1995 — it was No Doubt’s ‘Tragic Kingdom’. While these days her listening tastes have changed to genres anywhere from yacht rock to Laurel Canyon to disco & funk, she still holds a special place in her heart for ‘Tragic Kingdom’.  Allison still uses her SONY alarm clock from 1993 to listen to her local NPR station at home, and prides herself in performing an unequivocal singing impersonation of Michael McDonald.

Sound Royalties:
“I love working at Sound Royalties because you never know what will happen in a day. We have so many creatives visiting our headquarters, conducting video interviews and in-office performances, and new customers leveraging SR funding every day! It’s always exciting.”

Brian Brown

Senior Director of Data Analytics

Brian Brown

Senior Director of Data Analytics

Background:
Brian Brown brings to Sound Royalties more than 20 years of development, data science, and technical management experience within the music industry. Brian created the first large-scale learning system that links audio samples of music performances with music ownership metadata. This system provides PROs (ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC) with accurate performance reports, helping music creatives collect their royalties. After founding the first Business Intelligence & Data Science departments at Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI), he began a Ph.D. program in Music Information & Retrieval.

In late 2016 Brian put his Ph.D. study on hold and left his position at BMI to help build the National Performing Rights Exchange (NPREX), the first ever exchange where rights holders and music users could enter direct deals with one another. After the launch of NPREX, Brian was looking for new ways to help music creatives and joined Sound Royalties to do just that.

Musical Anecdote:
Brian received both his first guitar and computer in 1979 and has been tethered to both ever since.  He has a degree with double emphasis in classical guitar performance and composition. During his free time, Brian competed in various composition and performance contests, and though an injury to Brian’s hand ended his performing career, it was the catalyst to spawn a career in his other passion, technology. These days, Brian finds novel ways to combine artificial intelligence and music composition, and goof off on his guitar.

Sound Royalties:
“I’ve spent most of my career with the goal of helping music creatives. Being at Sound Royalties lets me accomplish this.”

Evan Kaye

Managing Director

Evan Kaye

Managing Director

Background:
Evan graduated from American University in Washington D.C with a Bachelor of Arts in Communications. He then began his career with Smith Barney and Paine Webber in 1997 where he offered estate planning and investment advice.

In 1999 Evan became a National Sales Manager at Stone Street Capital in Maryland and later joined the specialty finance company, Novation Capital in 2006 where he served as National Sales Manager and Senior Funding Executive. While at Stone Street and Novation, Evan worked with structured settlement recipients and lottery winners to convert future payments into upfront cash.

Evan’s extensive background in Financial Services and love for music, finally came full-circle with the development of Sound Royalties.

Musical Anecdote:
Evan realized his appreciation for music at a very young age. This stemmed from nights in the garage where he played Nintendo while his father listened to a variety of music genres in the background. He cheerfully recalls the day his father was listening to a Beethoven concerto, and as he turned the volume up, he could feel the room shake, and quite literally, feel the music.

Sound Royalties:
“As a part of the company from the beginning, I have been able to see it grow exponentially year over year, not only because of the wonderful team that we have, but also because of the impact we have made on the lives and careers of the creatives we work with. That is why I love working here.”

Lakshmi Sinclair

Senior Business Development and Royalty Specialist

Lakshmi Sinclair

Senior Business Development and Royalty Specialist

Background:
With her father being a diplomat with the Foreign Service, Lakshmi grew up in far-flung places around the globe; everywhere from South East Asia, Europe, and Africa, to Kuwait and Jamaica.

Lakshmi attended Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, FL with a major in Psychology and a minor in Linguistics. Prior to joining Sound Royalties, she served as an Advertising Executive with Comcast Spotlight, and before that, she worked on the advertising agency side where she developed media campaigns for Fortune 500 companies such as Procter & Gamble and Ford.

Lakshmi’s extraordinarily rich and diverse background as well as her lifelong love of music, make her a valuable asset to the Sound Royalties team.

Musical Anecdote:
Laskhmi’s love of music was instilled in her at an early age through her parents’ passion for music. In fact, she attended many international shows hosted by her parents and met several music industry giants as a result. Through that experience, she learned that music was indeed the universal language and witnessed first-hand how it could transcend cultural boundaries.

Sound Royalties:
My favorite part about working at Sound Royalties is watching the success of the music creatives we work with. I have witnessed so many amazing goals achieved with funding through SR, and nothing is more rewarding than that!”

Marysol Aldaba

Royalty Support Manager

Marysol Aldaba

Royalty Support Manager

Background:
Attention to detail, a flair for creativity, and the ability to provide individual attention and support to each and every client are the keys to Marysol’s success as a Sound Royalties Royalty Support Manager. In her role, she applies her deep experience in relationship-building and customer service from her days as a research analyst, underwriter, and sales support representative at another specialty finance firm.

Musical Anecdote:
Growing up in a Mexican American background, Marysol was exposed to both English and Spanish music from a young age. Her mom liked her Mexican music, but she also loved variety and could switch from country music to freestyle without notice. She recalls waking up to faint music from the kitchen as her mom danced around the house cleaning, cooking a large family breakfast, or doing what was needed to get a jumpstart on the day. Music was introduced to her to boost a mood or get the party started and motivate her even during the most challenging moments. It has been a big part of preserving many moments in her life, and to this day, a song can instantly bring Marysol back to a memory, such as dancing around a kitchen with her mom.

Sound Royalties:
“Sound Royalties is more than just a company I work for: it’s a movement. Everyone treats you like family, and we are always working toward the common goal of helping the music industry reach its goals. When I start my day, I have a mission and mindset to ensure that anyone who works with us is treated with the same respect and that the family vibe extends to them. It feels good to play a role in helping others make the most of their royalties.”

Reggie Calloway

Director of Music Royalty Funding

Reggie Calloway

Director of Music Royalty Funding

Background:
Reggie graduated from Kentucky State University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Music degree. In 2011, he began providing financing for artists and publishers who needed a way to monetize their royalty assets. Reggie directed a sales team that was instrumental in bringing thousands  of song titles to the market including the music of artists Whitney Houston, 50 Cent, John Legend, Will Smith, 3 Doors Down, J Lo, Lil Wayne, Justin Timberlake, Timbaland, Earth Wind and Fire, Travis Tritt, and more.

As a five-time Grammy-nominated artist, Reggie has always displayed a unique ear for music and business. It is no surprise that this music pioneer received a Grammy nomination for R&B Songwriter of the Year for the hit song “Casanova” in 1987.

Musical Anecdote:
Best known as the founder of the popular Techno-funk band, “Midnight Star”, Reggie led the group to international success writing, producing, and arranging a string of top mega #1 hits including “Operator”, “No Parking On The Dance Floor”, and “Freaka-zoid”. He has penned songs for Levert, (“Casanova”), Teddy Pendergrass (“Joy”), Gladys Knight, (“Love Overboard”) and Natalie Cole (“Jump Start My Heart”). One of Reggie’s original compositions entitled, “I’ll Be Good For You”, was featured on N*SYNC’s 10X’s-platinum CD, “No Strings Attached”, the best-selling Album of the last decade. Reggie is also on the Board of Directors of The California Copyright Conference and The Funk Music Hall of Fame, and is a Recording Academy District Advocate.

Sound Royalties:
“As a lifetime creative and music business enthusiast, I have always dreamed of a way to empower all creatives through financing. What we are doing at Sound Royalties is bringing that passion to life by giving others a way to reinvest in themselves and make their dreams come true.”

Tatiana Chinchilla

Senior Royalty Specialist

Tatiana Chinchilla

Senior Royalty Specialist

Background:
Tatiana, a Florida native and founding Royalty Specialist, was born and raised in West Palm Beach, FL, and grew up with a strong interest in music playing the piano, songwriting, and performing. After high school, Tatiana received her Associate’s degree from Palm Beach State and is currently enrolled at South University in Royal Palm where she is pursuing a BS in Business Administration. Tatiana joined Sound Royalties over 5 years ago, bringing more than 10 years of customer service experience with her. Tatiana’s ambition, knowledge, experience, and involvement in the music community make her a great resource to her many customers and to our team.

Musical Anecdote:
Tatiana grew up in a religious home with her father and stepmother, both of them pastors. With most of her free time spent in the church, she learned to play the piano and the clarinet in middle school. Though she didn’t pursue a serious career as a musician, Tatiana learned that she loved it, and hoped to become a part of the music industry in some capacity. Luckily for us, Tatiana found that she can use her passion behind the scenes within the music industry to help artists pursue their dreams through the help of Sound Royalties’ services.

Sound Royalties:
“I love working at Sound Royalties because it allows me to build relationships with so many different artists, producers and songwriters. Hearing about their accomplishments and learning about their music really makes me happy. I look forward to coming to the office every day. It’s true what they say – if you love what you do, you will never work a day in your life.”