Tuesday, March 9, 2004

Omnicom Group Inc.’s Diversified Agency Services (DAS) has appointed GARY VONKENNEL (pictured) as chairman/CEO of Rapp Collins Worldwide. He replaces MALCOLM SPEED, who is retiring after five years at the helm. VonKennel has been chairman of Tracy Locke Partnership, Dallas, Tex., and president/CEO of U.S. Marketing & Promotions, Torrance, Calif., both parts of Omnicom DAS.

Deutsch NY has hired JOHN IGLAR and AMY TITLE as vice president, account planners. Iglar will be working on LensCrafters and Starwood; Title will be working on Novartis. Iglar was most recently an account planner at Ogilvy & Mather, where he had been responsible for all planning activities for DuPont's $4.5 billion Agriculture & Nutrition division. He also worked on Yahoo!, Advair, Remicade, and Claritin. Title joins from Saatchi & Saatchi New York where she had been a vice president, senior strategic planner and worked on P&G's Oral Care Division brands, including Crest, SpinBrush, Night Effects, and Fixodent.

NetRatings has named KENNETH CASSAR as director of strategic analysis. Cassar will oversee a team of senior analysts that provides Nielsen//NetRatings clients with value-add ecommerce and media measurement and analysis. Before joining NetRatings, Inc., Cassar served as manager of strategic consulting at Modem Media where he designed market research plans for one of the world's largest IT services firms. Prior to Modem Media, he was a senior analyst at Jupiter Research.

KAREN ANTUZZI has been named senior vice president, group media director of FCBi, the interactive arm of Foote Cone & Belding. She will be responsible for interactive, direct and integrated media on Kraft and HP accounts. Antuzzi joins FCBi from mOne (formerly Ogilvy One) where she spent her entire 19-year career.

The Advertising Research Foundation (ARF) has named DOUGLAS WOOD as its general counsel. Wood, partner-in-charge at Reed Smith Hall Dickler's Advertising & Marketing Law Group of top-20 international law firm Reed Smith LLP, has more than 25 years experience representing national and multinational companies in advertising and unfair competition, intellectual property, and Internet matters. Wood will be responsible for advising the ARF on new initiatives as well as overseeing all of the ARF's legal activities including policy development and contract review.

MATT OPPENHEIM has joined law firm Jenner & Block as a partner. Oppenheim will be a member of the Firm's Entertainment and New Media Practice, in addition to working with its Intellectual Property and Technology Practice. Oppenheim was senior vice president, business and legal affairs for the Recording Industry Association of America, where he oversaw a wide range of legal, strategic,and technology matters. Oppenheim had been the lead RIAA litigator in the landmark Internet "file-sharing" cases involving Napster, Aimster, Grokster, AudioGalaxy, and Verizon.

Advertising agency Ten United has hired SUE DORON as media supervisor, responsible for the Perkins Restaurants account. Previously, Doron was a media buyer at political media firm Stevens Reed Curcio, Alexandria, Va., and before that held media positions on the Hardee's and McDonald's accounts, among others, at Bozell & Jacobs, Chicago, and at Evans Group, Indianapolis.

Hard Rock Cafe International announced that HAMISH DODDS has been named president and chief executive officer. Dodds most recently held similar positions with Cabcorp and PepsiCo Beverages International.

SBI Group Inc., a global marketing and technology-consulting firm, has promoted DAVID FRIEDMAN to executive vice president, central region of its SBI.Razorfish division. Friedman is responsible for expanding business opportunities in the Midwest from its existing base operations in Chicago. Most recently, Friedman was vice president, client services of SBI.Razorfish’s Consumer Products and Retail practice.

Green Dot Advertising, a full-service agency, has named ELIZABETH CROSS as executive vice president. She comes to Green Dot having held positions with The Beacon Council as vice president of marketing and MD International as director of marketing communications.

Meredith Corporation named JACK CHRISTIANSEN as senior account executive for WOOD magazine. Christiansen joins WOOD from Reed Business Information, where he worked with clients including Rustoleum, Ace Hardware, 3M, and Sears, among others.

Digital Impact, Inc., a provider of online direct marketing solutions for enterprises, announced the appointment of PETER PERVERE to the company’s board of directors. Pervere brings to Digital Impact nearly 25 years of management experience in the technology industry. In May 2002, he retired as the chief financial officer of Commerce One, Inc. a position he held since 1997. Prior to joining Commerce One, Pervere was vice president and corporate controller of Sybase, Inc.

BrandPort has named ELLEN TANENBAUM vice president - sales, with responsibility for running the New York sales office. Tanenbaum has more than 20 years of media experience, most recently serving as senior vice president, media account director for mediaedge:cia, now MEC Global.

The Jordan, Edmiston Group, Inc. (JEGI) of New York announced that TOLMAN GEFFS has joined the firm as managing director, online media and technology. Prior to joining JEGI, Geffs was CEO of Internet Broadcasting Systems, a national network of 70 local television websites operated in partnership with NBC, Hearst-Argyle Television, and The Washington Post Company, among others.

KATRINA WITHERSPOON has been promoted to vice president of interactive media for Reach Media, Inc. where she oversees day-to-day Web operations for BlackAmericaWeb.com. Previously, Witherspoon served as executive director of BlackAmericaWeb.com, the nation's largest independently owned site targeting African-Americans. Witherspoon is responsible for managing multi-media advertising campaigns and promotions with online and radio advertising clients for BlackAmericaWeb and the "Tom Joyner Morning Show."

SUSAN SAVELA BROWN has been hired as partner marketing manager for Cendant Corporation's Hospitality & Group, a new division. Savela Brown will oversee partner-marketing efforts for all of Cendant's Travel Distribution division. Her previous position was with Air New Zealand North America as market development manager and advertising manager where she was responsible for consumer, trade, and brand promotions.

Touchpoint, Inc., a provider of premium and highly personalized direct marketing programs, has named AL HULVEY president and chief executive officer. Hulvey will be responsible for the overall management and strategic direction of the company.