Maggie Carter Ward

Tree Publishing, Mel Tillis Ent., Fireside Studios

Maggie Ward, a native of Decatur Alabama, came to Nashville to attend boarding school at David Lipscomb High School, graduated from David Lipscomb College and began her career in the stock brokerage business. After several years as a stay-at-home mom, she re-entered the work force as an office manager at a radio station.

When the owner decided to make a career change, he arranged for Maggie to interview with Jack Stapp and Joyce Bush at Tree Publishing Company. They hired her to oversee the royalty and copyright department at the company. When she started at Tree, Roger Miller had a #1 song with "King of the Road" and during her tenure, Curly Putnam scored with "Green Grass of Home." Other Tree writers included Joe Tex, Bobby Braddock and Dottie and Bill West, as well as Harlan Howard.

After nearly four years, Maggie, with the help of her friend, Harlan Howard, landed a job with Mel Tillis, where she performed a variety of tasks for the CMA Entertainer of the Year, including dealing with record labels, performing rights organizations, publishers, television producers and others. She retired after 10 years but was lured out of retirement to manage Fireside Studios. When the studio was sold ten years later, Maggie retired once again.