Heather Sanderson has left her role as CEO of Top 40 distributor Overture Promotions (asi/288473), Counselor has learned. Jo Gilley, one of the initial investors in Overture and longtime advisor to the Illinois-based distributorship, is taking over as the firm’s new chief executive officer, effective immediately.

“Overture’s growth has been driven by its talented and hard-working staff,” said Gilley. “I know that I have big shoes to fill, and am excited for what the future holds.”

Gilley has more than 20 years of management, strategic planning and marketing experience. Previously, Gilley was VP of marketing for Chicago’s WNBA team, the Sky. In addition, Gilley has served as VP of marketing at Tunes.com, director of corporate strategy at BackWeb Technologies, and was the first director of communications for IBM’s Software Group. Before starting her career in marketing, Gilley worked as an analyst at the Central Intelligence Agency.

“We’ll continue to maintain an intense focus within two key areas, growth and client satisfaction,” said Tej Shah, Overture’s executive VP, who will continue to lead the company’s sales and marketing efforts. “We have a very strong pipeline and an aggressive growth strategy in place for the next three years.”

Ranked 43rd on Counselor’s 2017 Power 50 list of the most influential people in the industry, Sanderson won Counselor’s Distributor Woman of Distinction Award in 2012 and Distributor Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2015. She helped start Overture in 2001 as the managing member of the company. Under her leadership, Overture has grown its staff from three employees to more than 100. The company reported 2016 annual sales of $43 million – good enough to rank Overture 38th on Counselor’s 2017 list of the largest distributors in the industry by revenue.