AWAL Promotes Matt Riley to President, Victoria Needs & Sam Potts to Co-Managing Directors

After a recent run of successes, AWAL has announced a series of executive promotions in the U.K.

Matt Riley has been named president, an elevation from his previous role of managing director. Meanwhile, Victoria Needs and Sam Potts will move into new roles as co-managing directors, having both previously held the role of senior vp.

Riley, who appeared on Billboard U.K.’s 2025 Power Players list, first joined the label and distributor in 2014 and has led the U.K. arm of the label since 2023 alongside Needs and Potts. Prior to joining AWAL, Needs held roles at EMI, Warner and Sony. Her current team has led global campaigns for artists such as Djo, Little Simz, Jungle and Laufey, as well as delivering domestic success for artists such as CMAT and James Marriott. Potts has enjoyed success while working on the digital marketing strategies for AWAL’s roster.

The news follows a hot streak in the U.K. for the AWAL roster. In June, Marriott hit the top spot of the Official Albums Chart with his second LP, Don’t Tell The Dog, besting Oasis in a tight chart battle. And AWAL-affiliated rapper and polymath Little Simz achieved a new career-high on the U.K. Albums Chart with her sixth album Lotus peaking at No. 3 while marking her biggest opening-week sales to date. Following her curation of London’s Meltdown Festival in June, she’s due to headline London’s O2 Arena this fall.

Irish country-pop star CMAT drew a huge crowd at Glastonbury Festival in June, and AWAL is set to release her third LP, Euro-Country, on Aug. 29. Her song “Take a Sexy Picture of Me” has earned 18 million streams since its release in May and sparked a viral TikTok dance. Additionally, Icelandic-Chinese star Laufey earned a hat-trick of top 40 singles in 2024 with three festive songs (“Winter Wonderland,” “Christmas Magic,” and “Santa Baby”) charting in the U.K. Her third LP, A Matter of Time, will be released on Aug. 22.

Speaking on the news, Riley said, “It is immensely rewarding to have been part of AWAL’s story for the past decade and most of all a huge privilege to work with such a special bunch of people and artists. Thank you to Lonny and Paul for their leadership and experience and of course Sam and Vic, with whom I feel we have created a formidable team. We go into every single day working hard to make AWAL the most culturally exciting, successful and forward thinking home for artists and executives it can be.”

Lonny Olinick, AWAL’s CEO, added, “It is a privilege to recognize the amazing work of our UK leadership team. Matt, Sam and Vic work selflessly as a leadership team, always putting aside any ego to do what’s best for each other, our artists and our AWAL team. They are music lovers who care deeply about our artists and the art that they create. They are the unique team that is constantly pushing the envelope, making sure that our artists realize every ounce of their potential. Their results speak for themselves and we are fortunate to have such a strong team in a market so central to AWAL’s past, present and future.”