NEW YORK, NY.,– Octave Music Group (TouchTunes + PLAYNetwork), the largest in-venue interactive music and entertainment platform company, announced today that Joseph Varner has joined the company as Senior Vice President and Chief People Officer.

Joseph will lead Octave Group’s global human resources organization, including its workforce strategy, talent acquisition and development, employee engagement as well as crafting the company’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusion framework. Additionally, as a member of the Octave Group’s executive leadership team, he will support strategic company initiatives to ensure Octave Group continues to foster a culture that attracts, grows and retains the best and the brightest talent.

Joseph brings more than two decades of experience in leading global programs in organizational effectiveness, performance management and development, and HR transformation at major companies. Most recently, Joseph held several human capital positions at beverage powerhouse Diageo, as North America Inclusion & Diversity Officer and as North America Human Resources Director for the company’s $6B annual US Sales organization. Prior, Joseph held executive HR roles at Elizabeth Arden overseeing the construction of Elizabeth Arden’s retail stores throughout the United States and leading the merger & acquisition of Arden & cosmetics giant Revlon. Joseph also served as a senior manager for Warner Media where he led HR programs for New Line Cinema & Picturehouse Films (Academy Award winning Lord of The Rings franchise, Pan’s Labyrinth, La Vie En Rose) and Time Inc. (Fortune, Money and Wallpaper* Magazines).

“It is an exciting time to join Octave Group and I am energized and honored to help shape the future of the Company,” said Joseph. “What I admire most about Octave Group is its outstanding culture and the leadership team’s commitment to its people. Those two essential elements create a culture of innovation that delivers ground-breaking technologies for our customers.” At Octave Group, we believe in the power of music and media to inspire emotional connections in shared spaces, enhancing the way people interact with each other and with their surroundings. Our offerings include TouchTunes, the pioneer in crowd-sourced music and entertainment featured in bars, restaurants and other shared spaces, and PlayNetwork, the leader in helping brands create emotional connections with their customers through music and media, in-store and beyond.

We reach more than 100 million consumers globally every day through 450+ brands, 185,000 locations and 2,500 local partners. Octave Group has offices in New York, Montreal, Chicago, Seattle, London, Columbus, Los Angeles, Vancouver, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Santiago, and Sydney.