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Beyonce parts ways with longtime business manager

Written by . Published: February 05 2016

Superstar Beyonce has quietly parted ways with her longtime business manager after a decade.


Lee Anne Callahan-Longo was promoted to the position of the Halo singer's general manager in 2011, after Beyonce cut ties professionally with her dad, Mathew Knowles, who had overseen her rise to fame with Destiny's Child and the launch of her subsequent solo career.


However, the 34-year-old has since given her management team a complete makeover, hiring former JPMorgan Chase executive Steve Pamon for her Parkwood Entertainment company in late 2015. He previously served as the financial firm's head of sports and entertainment marketing, and set up the bank's sponsorship of Beyonce and husband Jay Z's joint On The Run Tour in 2014.


"Beyonce basically cleaned house, got rid of her whole team, which included her cousin, and hired a new team," a source tells the New York Post's Page Six column. "She wants to surround herself with business people who could take her career to an even higher level.


"She has one album left to deliver before her deal is up with Columbia (Records), plus she wants to make smarter decisions where it comes to touring, sponsorships and acting roles."


Other recent hires include Peter Thea, formerly of Universal Republic and Island Def Jam, and industry veteran Dan Ghosh-Roy, who is now in charge of Beyonce's digital operation.


A statement released by her representative, Yvette Noel-Schure, reads: "Last year, Parkwood Entertainment created new departments and recruited new executives from the tech, business and entertainment sectors, who joined the team to help grow Parkwood and its interests... Some senior staffers were given the opportunity to reposition and stay on. Some members... awakened (to) new interests and decided to follow personal routes.


"Lee Anne Callahan-Longo has worked with Beyonce for the last 10 years. Their friendship supersedes business, and while she is no longer an employee of Parkwood, she will remain an imperative part of Beyonce's life."


The news of the management shake up emerges as Beyonce prepares to return to the Super Bowl stage with Coldplay on Sunday (07Feb16), three years after headlining the half-time show herself and staging a mini Destiny's Child reunion.

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