Hugh Forrest is out at South By Southwest, four months after assuming leadership of the music, tech and film conference, following a decision by the SXSW board to select Penske Media Corporation executive Jenny Connelly to lead the festival, Billboard has learned.
Connelly, a longtime executive vp of product and technology at PMC and a SXSW board member, has been appointed director in charge of the annual event in Austin. Consequently, Forrest was offered the opportunity to retain his titles as president and chief programming officer, reporting to Connelly in her new role, according to PMC. “When Hugh was told he wasn’t going to get the CEO role at SXSW, and would be reporting to her, Hugh made the decision to leave SXSW,” said the spokesperson for PMC, which has had control of SXSW for two years and is also Billboard‘s parent company.
Since joining PMC in late 2017, Connelly has overseen multiple teams responsible for engineering, data, IT, product and SEO, and also leads the subscriptions and email teams. Pre-PMC, Connelly was senior vp of product at Dreamworks NOVA, tasked with bringing that company’s 3D imaging technology to other industries. Earlier, she spent seven-plus years at Live Nation Entertainment, rising to senior vp of digital at Live Nation Studios.
Connelly is based in Los Angeles but has begun traveling to Austin on a weekly basis, the company said.
Several other key moves were announced Friday (April 25) during a company town hall as part of ongoing succession planning at the festival, the PMC rep said, along with additional promotions for festival veterans Peter Lewis, Greg Rosenbaum and Brian Hobbs. The organization said it has several open jobs to fill at SXSW.
Forrest declined to comment on last week’s chain of events when reached by Billboard but remarked in a statement over the weekend that “leaving South by Southwest was definitely not my decision,” adding, “I put my heart and soul into this event for more than 35 years, and I was looking forward to leading several more editions.”
Forrest joined SXSW in 1989, when it was in its nascent stage, and spent the bulk of his tenure as chief programming officer. In 2022, he was promoted to co-president alongside then-chief brand officer Jann Baskett, succeeding the retiring CEO Roland Swenson. Forrest became the sole president late last year following Baskett’s departure to start her own consultancy.
As president, Forrest had been tasked with driving business growth and collaborating closely with the event’s board of directors, which includes co-founder Swenson, Jay Penske (CEO of Penske Media and SXSW’s largest shareholder) and Amy Webb (CEO of the Future Today Institute), among others.
The company told Billboard that the 2025 edition achieved the highest sponsorship revenue in the event’s history, while the SXSW EDU conference had its best turnout since its 2011 founding.
The Austin Chronicle hinted at a wider staffing shakeup at SXSW, reporting on Saturday (April 26) that “another 10 or more staff members … have left the company, either through previously planned departures or unexpectedly.” One departure, James Minor, the vp and head of music at the conference, was one of those planned exits. Minor told the Austin American-Statesman on Sunday he “already had plans to leave SXSW in motion for the fall.”
Founded in 1987 by Swenson, Nick Barbaro, Louis Black and Louis Jay Meyers, SXSW has grown into a globally influential event in Austin, which also now includes satellite events like the two-year-old SXSW Sydney and the upcoming debut of SXSW London, which launches in June. Swenson, who led SXSW for 36 years, transitioned to executive chairman in 2022.
The leadership change follows a recent announcement that next year’s conference will be on the shorter side, running from March 12-18, with interactive, film/TV and music programs happening concurrently. The reduction in days — and by extension, the number of showcasing music artists and shows — is due to the $1.6 billion redevelopment of the Austin Convention Center, which is underway. The new center, expected to open in 2029, will nearly double its size and focus on accessibility and sustainability. “A shorter SX gives attendees more of a chance to be here for the entire run,” a spokesperson told Billboard at the time.
Note: Billboard’s parent company PMC is the largest shareholder of SXSW and its brands are official media partners of SXSW.
