diff --git a/files/mkbranch b/files/mkbranch
index 9873202..19639db 100644
--- a/files/mkbranch
+++ b/files/mkbranch
@@ -30,7 +30,6 @@ IGNORE=
 BRANCH=""
 PACKAGES=""
 SRC_BRANCH="master"
-AUTHOR="Fedora Release Engineering <rel-eng@lists.fedoraproject.org>"
 
 Usage() {
     cat <<EOF
@@ -75,6 +74,11 @@ while [ -n "$1" ] ; do
         BRANCH=$1/master
         ;;
 
+    --default-branch-author )
+        shift
+        AUTHOR=$1
+        ;;
+
     * )
         if [ -z "$BRANCH" ] ; then
         BRANCH="$1"
@@ -92,6 +96,10 @@ if [ -z "$BRANCH" -o -z "$PACKAGES" ] ; then
     exit -1
 fi
 
+if [ -z $AUTHOR ]; then
+    AUTHOR="Fedora Release Engineering <rel-eng@lists.fedoraproject.org>"
+fi
+
 
 # Sanity checks before we start doing damage
 NEWP=
diff --git a/files/pkgdb_sync_git_branches.py b/files/pkgdb_sync_git_branches.py
index 04ef972..da656e8 100644
--- a/files/pkgdb_sync_git_branches.py
+++ b/files/pkgdb_sync_git_branches.py
@@ -125,7 +125,8 @@ def _create_branch(pkgname, branch, existing_branches):
        return
 
     try:
-        _invoke(MKBRANCH, [branch, pkgname])
+        _invoke(MKBRANCH, ["--default-branch-author", pipes.quote(DEFAULT_BRANCH_AUTHOR),
+                           branch, pkgname])
     except ProcessError, e:
         if e.returnCode == 255:
             # This is a warning, not an error