Donna Jean Hilley (née Whitten; June 30, 1940 – June 20, 2012) was an American music publishing executive who served as CEO of

Sony/ATV Music Publishing Sony Music Publishing (formerly Sony/ATV Music Publishing) is the largest music publisher in the world, with over five million songs owned or administered as of end March 2021. US-based, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is itself owned ...

from 1994 to her retirement in 2005. Originally from

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% fr ...

, Hilley began her career at

WKDA WKDA (900 AM) is a radio station broadcasting a Spanish Religious format. Licensed to Lebanon, Tennessee, United States, the station serves the Nashville, Tennessee area. The station is currently owned by Wilson County Broadcasting, Inc. Hist ...

in Nashville and went on to work in

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

publishing. A graduate of Jones Valley High School in Birmingham, Hilley was inducted into the Alabama Music Hall of Fame in 1999. She had been married to her high school sweetheart from Birmingham for over 40 years. Hilley was born in

Montevallo, Alabama Montevallo is a city in Shelby County, Alabama, United States. A college town, it is the home of the University of Montevallo, a public liberal arts university with approximately 3,000 students. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city o ...

. Her father, John Truman Whitten, was a lineman for the

Alabama Power Company Alabama Power Company, headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, is a company in the southern United States that provides electricity service to 1.4 million customers in the southern two-thirds of Alabama. It also operates appliance stores. It is one ...

. Her mother, Janie Mae Whitten (née Sizemore) was a stay at home mom when Donna was born at home after a long difficult labor (many births occurred at home in the rural South in those days). Her parents came from very poor psychosocial situation, and Donna's parents had moved up the socioeconomic ladder only a bit. Her brother, Jimmy Whitten, was born 5 years later, and a sister Diane Whitten, was born 14 years later. By this time the family had moved to Birmingham for her dad's job. Hilley married her high school boyfriend and moved to

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...

(he was at Vanderbilt) immediately after high school. Though armed with only a high school degree and no experience, she began working at a radio station in Nashville. Two young girls, Vickie and Debbie, were born soon after. The couple was quite poor. With a husband in school and Hilley at a low paying but fun job, the money was scarce. Several years later Hilley followed one of the disc jockeys from WKDA into his advertising firm, Bill Hudson and Associates. She moved up the hierarchy in that position. In 1980 Donna and Rayford were surprised with the birth of their third daughter Whitney (19 & 21 years younger than Vickie and Debbie). Several years later her previous boss at the radio station had also been running a music publishing company, Tree. When Mr Stapp ( owner of Tree ) called Hilley to say his secretary had taken ill and had stated only one person could do her job, and that person was Donna Hilley, Donna moved over to Tree Publishing. The position was "executive assistant" to Jack Stapp. Hilley worked her way up to president and CEO later of Tree Publishing. Hilley's grandson,

Mitchell Tenpenny Mitchell Tenpenny (born August 17, 1989) is an American country pop singer and songwriter from Nashville, Tennessee. He has released three studio albums and five extended plays through Riser House Records, with the first being '' Telling All My S ...

, is a country music singer-songwriter. Hilley often fibbed about her age and ''

The Tennessean ''The Tennessean'' (known until 1972 as ''The Nashville Tennessean'') is a daily newspaper in Nashville, Tennessee. Its circulation area covers 39 counties in Middle Tennessee and eight counties in southern Kentucky. It is owned by Gannett, ...

'' reported that she was 65 when she died, although she was actually about to turn 72.

References

Reference Diane Whitten-Vile, sister 1940 births 2012 deaths American music industry executives Businesspeople from Birmingham, Alabama People from Nashville, Tennessee American women chief executives 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American businesswomen 21st-century American women {{US-CEO-stub