Ben Willmott joined the School of Performing Arts in January 2017 after spending over a decade in the music industry. Following his graduation from Ithaca College, where he earned a degree in Music and Business Administration, Ben returned to his home state of Massachusetts and was promoted to Lead Contract Administrator for the domestic booking division at Ted Kurland Associates in Boston; a music booking agency specializing in jazz and world music, representing artists including Wynton Marsalis, Sonny Rollins, Marian McPartland, Chick Corea, Bela Fleck, and Pat Metheny. In 2009, Ben began working at Wilkins Management, Inc., an entertainment management firm that oversees the careers of musicians including Joshua Redman, Branford Marsalis and Harry Connick, Jr. There, Ben managed the worldwide performance bookings of Redman and Marsalis, as well as ticketing for Connick, Jr.'s concerts. He was appointed co-manager of Marsalis Music in 2013, a boutique record label founded by Branford Marsalis, for which he coordinated the release of albums by the Branford Marsalis Quartet, The Marsalis Family, Harry Connick, Jr., and Miguel Zenon.