Recording Academy Board Chairman John Poppo is one of the more influential figures in Grammyland, yet, compared to Academy chief Neil Portnow (who announced last week that he’ll be stepping down in 2019) or even Academy SVP Bill Freimuth, he remains relatively unfamiliar to the biz. So here’s a little bit about the man and his career.

The Long Island native is a 30-year veteran of the biz, having worked as a producer, engineer, mixer/remixer, arranger, musician and artist manager in an array of genres. He’s worked on projects for artists like NSYNC, Madonna, Mariah Carey, Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson, Seal, Diana Ross, Michael Bolton and Annie Lennox, among many others. He earned a B.S. in Engineering from SUNY Fredonia in 1984, correctly reasoning that digital tech would become a dominant force throughout the music biz.

In 1996, Poppo launched his own Pop Productions, Inc., intended as a one-stop shop for artist and project development from A&R to the final mix. He’s had pub deals with BMG and UMPG.

A board member since 2003, Poppo was highly active with the Academy before elected Chair in 2015. He co-chaired the Planning and Governance Committee for six years and served on the Executive, Television, Awards & Nominations, Finance, Membership, Advocacy, Tech, Grant and Producers and Engineers Wing Steering Committees. He also serves on the boards of MusiCares, The Grammy Museum/Foundation and The Latin American Recording Academy (LARAS).

“I can safely say that I’ve run the gamut of doing several different careers and tied them all together,” he commented in a Music Insider interview, “so that puts me in a really good position to be able to relate very personally and directly to all our constituents and members of the Academy.”

He has promised to do his utmost to continue to shield the Academy from “those idiots at HITS.”