• by Joe Mandese , October 8, 2007

MPG North America, which has been on a hiring binge following major account wins like the Sears Roebuck & Co. business, has quietly named two more executives to senior positions, including Diane Denesowicz, the long-time head of media research ad MindShare. At MPG, Denesowicz will become vice president of The Research Consultancy, an new unit focused on strategic analysis of marketing and media research reporting to Joe Abruzzo, executive vice president-director of research at MPG North America.

The move signals what appears to be a reorganization within MindShare's media research operations. Denesowicz, a long-time WPP media research executive who originally came out of Ogilvy & Mather, had succeeded long-time MindShare media research chief David Marans when he left to take a senior position a couple of years ago at IAG Research.

In another key hire, MPG has named Barbara Delfyett Hester vice president-strategic planner, responsible for strategic planning on the GlaxoSmithKline, Exxon-Mobile and Kmart accounts, among others. She reports to Coleen Kuehn, executive vice president-chief strategist for MPG North America. Hester was an integrated marketing communications strategist at IBM North America's Software Group.

The new appointments follow last week's announcements that veteran marketer Kaki Hinton has joined MPGS as executive vice president-managing director on the Sears account, and another former top MindShare executive, David Handelman, has joined as executive vice president-managing director on Kmart.