ROBERT (CHIP) LEGRAND has joined PARADE magazine’s Chicago sales department as an account executive. LeGrand joins the company from Gannett Inc., where he was an account executive at USA Weekend.

Wirestone has added BRAD JOHNSON as managing director in the San Diego office. Prior to joining Wirestone, Johnson spent 11 years with Young & Rubicam in Irvine, Calif.

The VIA Group announced that DIANE SYSTROM joined the company as a principal and group strategy director. In this new position, Systrom will be responsible for managing VIA's Boston office including accounts such as HP Hood and Monster.

STEVEN BARTH has joined the Online Services unit of MediaSpan as executive vice president and SHAWN DUFFY has been appointed vice president of sales for MediaSpan’s Media Software unit.

DIC Entertainment has promoted LEILA PIRNIA to vice president of global brand management. Previously, Pirnia served as vice president of strategic planning & business development.

Wieden+Kennedy New York has named LESLIE STONE as head of strategic planning. Stone is tasked with managing the current and continued growth of the planning department. Stone joins Wieden from Ogilvy and Mather, where she served as senior partner and worldwide planning director. She oversaw strategic development for brands including American Express and the Tribeca Film Festival.

SETH WINTER has been named senior vice president, sales & marketing, NBC Universal Sports & Olympics. Winter most recently served as vice president, sales for NBCU Digital Media, overseeing Internet and broadband sales for NBCU's expanding digital media efforts.

WENDY CONNELLY has been promoted to media planner/buyer at DMW Worldwide. She is now also responsible for client exchange program management and results tracking report development and has assumed an expanded role in list research for clients in public broadcasting.

JIM IRVING has been promoted to vice president, strategic media development, up from vice president, marketing & product management, at Jumpstart Automotive Media.

KATHLEEN GEHRING CARINO has been promoted to senior vice president / director of client services from senior vice president / account director at Gearon Hoffman.

JOHN MILES has joined MediaCom as director of investments, overseeing the agency’s media buying and leading the total integration of MediaCom’s media investment strategy across all client brands and buying units. Miles joins MediaCom from GM Mediaworks, which he joined at its inception in 1994 and most recently served as acting president.

Connelly Partners has named JIM BELL as copywriter; HEATHER JUTCAWITZ as senior brand manager; BONGWOOK LEE as lead developer; KYLE SILVERNAIL as brand supervisor; and KEVIN ZELECHOSKI as interactive brand supervisor.

Ruckus Network has named ALLEN BAUM as chief revenue officer.

GSD&M has promoted JEFFREY BOND to executive producer of the agency's Interactive Group. Bond will help manage a team to bridge the gap between alternative and traditional media forms.

MPG, the global media network of Havas Media, is increasing its presence across Asia Pacific and will be fully operational across the region beginning January 1, 2007. MPG currently operates in three APAC markets: Australia, India and Japan, and from 2007 the media network will also have a presence in all remaining key markets: China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Korea and Taiwan. VISHNU MOHAN, CEO of MPG in Asia Pacific, will lead the expansion and the new network from the MPG regional headquarters in Singapore.

JOHN JAKUBOWSKI has been named creative director for the San Francisco office of AKQA. Most recently he served as creative lead for HP North America at Digitas.

ANDY SERWER has been named managing editor of Fortune. Serwer succeeds ERIC POOLEY, who will now be working with JOHN HUEY and Time Inc. managing editor JIM KELLY on investigative projects.

YURI SALNIKOFF has joined R/GA as managing director, client services, a newly created position. Salnikoff will lead the Nokia account. Most recently, he was vice president, managing partner, of Agency.com’s New York office, responsible for all digital marketing activities and operations.

PointRoll has named SHANNON THOMPSON as director of channel development. Thompson previously inaugurated and rolled out the use of rich media at Yahoo! where she built and managed the ad technologies team.

MARIAM DILAWARI has joined Dentsu America, New York, as a media supervisor on the Canon account. She was previously a media strategist at Media Kitchen, New York.

KARIN LAFRAMBOISE, most recently advertising operations manager at EDMC, has joined Smith Brothers as director of traffic and production.

ED SALVATO, former travel editor of PlanetOut Inc., was named editor in chief of The Out Traveler and corporate director of travel media.

SCOTT PATERRA has joined GameFly to launch an Ad Sales group. He recently served as the VP of ad sales at IFILM.

SFGT has hired BEN MALLORY as creative director. He will lead the creative development of digital products in SFGT's technology strategies division.

KATIE WALTON has joined M&C Saatchi New York as account director to service the PODS business, along with newly acquired agency accounts. Most recently she was vice president, director of account services at KraftWorks, where she led Bali, Calvin Klein, Haynes, Playtex, Speedo, and Wonderbra.

DAN CAMPBELL, most recently group director, advertising & media at InsightExpress, was named vice president sales for Kaava Corporation.

FOX News Channel has named SETH HITTMAN national director of digital media sales. In addition, COURTNEY DUBIN joins FNC as manager for sales marketing and ALEXIS GOLDSTEIN joins as an account executive.

RICHARD BUKOWSKI has been named director of advertising sales at Voxant.

Eric Mower and Associates promoted VALERIE BERGEMAN to senior media buyer in the Buffalo office. In her new position, she will be responsible for television and radio buying across key accounts, and will provide increased support for several clients, including First Niagara Bank, National Fuel, Arby’s and Applebee’s.

PRIMEDIA has named GREG GOFF to the position of president, PRIMEDIA Enthusiast Media, Digital.

The New York office of StrawberryFrog has made four new hires. LEE MAICON was tapped as the director of strategy. Most recently, he worked at Berlin Cameron, where he led strategic work for a broad range of clients, from Coca-Cola to Pfizer. The other senior members of the team include ADAM DEVINE, previously with Naked New York; KIM RUSHTON, who joins the agency as a planner from BBDO; and TORI WINN, who comes onboard as interactive creative director from AKQA. ILANA BRYANT will remain as deputy director of strategy.

AvPro Worldwide has named MARTY ALLEN as vice president of sales.

ALLISON CORN and CHRIS BRYSON have been named executive producers of Lion TV USA.

Phillips Design Group has promoted RICH OFSTUN to senior director of business development from director. Ofstun is responsible for all new business activity for the firm.