Ienner at Helm of Sony Music

Sony Music promoted industry veteran Don Ienner to a newly created post as president of its U.S. division, placing the 51-year-old executive at the helm of a sprawling operation that releases albums from a diverse roster of acts including the Offspring, Nas and Good Charlotte.

Ienner’s promotion, which had been widely expected, is part of a massive restructuring overseen by Andrew Lack, the former television executive who was hired to run the music division after the exit of longtime chairman Thomas D. Mottola.

Ienner joined Sony in 1989 as president of the Columbia Records Group, becoming the youngest executive to hold that post in the label’s 120-year history. He had previously worked under music icon Clive Davis at Arista Records.

As president of the U.S. operation, Ienner will oversee the company’s family of labels, including Columbia, Epic Records and Legacy Recordings. Sony is consolidating certain functions of several labels as part of an effort to slash $100 million in annual costs.

In the weeks ahead, Sony also is expected to centralize its black-music operations under Epic executive Dave McPherson, sources said. As executive vice-president of artist and repertoire operations, McPherson helped develop recent hits from Jennifer Lopez and B2K. Before joining the label, he helped usher in the boy-band craze, bringing the then-unknown Backstreet Boys to Jive Records.