R/GA opened an in-house digital studio and STEVEN FORD, head of production, will oversee the day-to-day operations.
Nielsen Business Media promoted SABRINA CROW to senior vice president, marketing & media group. Crow, currently vice president, marketing & media group, replaces MICHAEL PARKER, who is leaving the company.
DOLORES GONSALVES-IRISH was promoted to chief financial officer, up from senior financial administrator, for Strategis.
Thomas Taber & Drazen hired MICHAEL “SPIKE” STEVENS as director of interactive strategy and creative to its newly formed interactive department.
PJA Advertising and Marketing named KRISTINA TALEVI as account manager on the TriZetto account.
MIKE OWEN has been named online advertising sales director for Men’s Health magazine. Owen comes to Men’s Health from Napsterwhere he served as director of eastern ad sales overseeing all entertainment accounts including HBO, Showtime and Sony Music.
The Weather Channel Interactive named MICHAEL WATSON sales director for the southeast.
The Subway Franchisee Advertising Fund Trust named JEFF MOODY as executive director and chief executive officer. Moody joins SFAFT from Metromedia Restaurant Group where he served as chairman, chief executive officer, and president from 2005 to 2007.
Carat Fusion promoted BRIAN MATHENA to media director for the agency’s Los Angeles office. Mathena will oversee the office’s media teams, working on digital media strategy, planning and buying for clients including adidas, Luxury Link and Tourism Australia. He most recently served as associate media director.
BARBARA FISHER has been named senior vice president, original programming for Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movie Channel. Most recently, Fisher was a producer/consultant for National Geographic Entertainment.
FORTUNE named PETER GUMBEL as Europe editor. Gumbel previously worked at TIME in Paris where he worked as a senior writer covering European business and politics.
SHARON BARCLAY joined MWW Group as senior vice president and general manager of the firm’s San Francisco office. Previously, Barclay was a director at Manning, Selvage and Lee where she led the launch of Motorola’s Internet and Networking Group.
Carat Fusion promoted BRIAN BAKER to art director and GIANCARLO PISANI to senior art director.
SANDIE CAM joined PostWorks as managing director, theatrical services.
PAUL A. CAMPBELL, former director of business development at the Microsoft Corporation, joined QD3 Entertainment as president and chief operating officer.
KARL HEISELMAN, CEO Wolff Olins USA, has been given the additional role of worldwide CEO. Heiselman joined Wolff Olins USA in 2000 as managing director and was appointed US CEO in 2006.
ANDREW W. SMITH was named senior vice president and IAIN L. LANIVICH, MICHAEL J. OXNER, CHRISTOPHER C. SCINTA, CATHERINE J. WAGNER and KEITH E. POSTLER have been named vice presidents at Campbell-Ewald.
Horizon Media promoted EILEEN BENWITT to executive vice president, human resources. She previously served as senior vice president of human resources.
KAREN KAUFMAN, MALCOLM RUSSELL and TATA SATO were named to MindShare North America’s Management Board, an advisory committee that determines company policies, manages critical business issues, and determines the media agency’s strategic plan.
WestWayne hired SUSAN TREACY as executive creative director. Previously, Treacy was group creative director with Fallon Minneapolis, where she oversaw creative for brands such as Kitchen Aid, Citibank and Nordstrom.
ALLSTON MCCRADY joined Garden & Gun magazine as managing editor.
PETER RENTSCHLER joined JWT Team Detroit as co-president. JWT Detroit executive creative director TOBY BARLOW was promoted to co-president. Rentschler previously served as evp, client leader on Ford of Canada with Young & Rubicam.
The Richards Group promoted PATRICK WIRE to principal. Wire joined the agency in 1993 as an account executive.
BRIAN CHERMSIDE was promoted to chief marketing officer and executive director of sales, marketing and customer service of Dow Corning Corporation.
TIM DONALDSON was named senior account executive, west coast for CollegeHumor. He previously worked on the sales team at IAC Advertising Solutions.
VerveLife hired MICHAEL J. KENNEDY as president and COO. Prior to VerveLife, Kennedy was the founder and CEO of Sssh Technology.
TACODA promoted LEE BLICKSTEIN from eastern region sales manager to director of eastern advertising sales. In addition, the company has appointed BRENDON GALLAGHER and DEEPAK SHARMA as sales managers in its New York office.
kirshenbaum bond + partners hired ROBIN D. HAFITZ as head of brand strategy, kbp, and president, Open Mind Strategy. Her strategic consultancy, Open Mind Strategy, will be brought into the kbp network.
Tribal DDB Canada promoted MONICA BUCK to managing director of the Vancouver operation. Previously, she was director of operations.
Blast Radius named CHEESAN CHEW as senior strategist, Toronto and MARK MULLEN as senior strategist, San Francisco.
YCD hired MIKE PETRIN as senior project manager for its newly opened North American office.
CoActive Marketing Group named GAIL BROOKS as associate director of multicultural marketing and SHANNON WASHINGTON as senior art director.
WIRED Magazine promoted MELISSA BORDIN to account manager. In addition, ALLYSON DEANE and LISA FRIEDMAN have joined the magazine as premium market managers. Lastly, JOSH STEELE joined as the exchange section account manager.
JENNIFER DIERKS and KATHLEEN VENEZIANO have joined Sigma Group as account supervisors for Panasonic Computer Solutions Company and its Toughbook brand of laptops.
Critical Mass named HEIDI SKINNER director of emerging media. In this newly created role, Skinner will focus on new media platforms from mobile to gaming, community, and video on demand. Previously, she worked for BVK/respond360 as a relationship marketing analyst, managing online media programs.
