JOHN J. KILCULLEN has been named publisher of Billboard. Kilcullen also assumes the presidency of VNU BusinAustralia, Canada, India, and Singapore.

Planning Group International has appointed THOMAS SMITHA its new chief financial officer. Smitha will be responsible for all financial and administrative functions, and was previously a senior executive at KPMG.

JOHN HOEFT has been named Vice President, Interactive Media for the Los Angeles Newspaper Group (LANG). Hoeft will oversee all revenue, product development and content publishing for each of the eight LANG websites, and will relocate from Denver, CO where he has been Business Development Manager for Media News Group Interactive since September 2002

iCrossing has appointed JEFFREY PRUITT as the company's new president. Pruitt, will be responsible for managing the company’s corporate strategies and objectives. He joined iCrossing in 1999, as CFO, and then became Director of Business Development, and lastly Senior Executive Vice President.

ANDREW PICONE has begun his own media planning based firm named Media Planning Resources. Prior to this, Picone spent part of his twenty-one year advertising career at BBDO, Ogilvy & Mather, and Horizon Media.

SCOTT NESLUND, former managing director of Starcom MediaVest Group Canada, was named President of StarLink, a Chicago based division of SMG. Neslund had worked with the SMG Canadian division since 1999.

Rainbow Advertising Sales Corporation (RASCO) has named LINDA GALLO to the post of vice president, Midwest Sales, for AMC and WE: Women's Entertainment, networks. Gallo will oversee all advertising sales for the Midwest region. She previously worked for Bravo networks, as vice president, Midwest sales.

La Opinión, a Spanish-language daily newspaper, has hired CAROL MINTZ as Vice President of Advertising. She will be responsible for planning and directing all functions of the advertising sales departments that include national, territory and classified. Mintz previously worked at Newspapers First, where she held the position of Vice President for the Western Region.

JOHN SEARS has been named Vice President of Fox’s owned and operated WOFL FOX 35 and WRBW UPN 65. Sears previously worked for KPTV FOX 12 in Portland, Oregon, where he held the positions of reporter, assignment editor, producer, executive producer and, since 1991, news director.

JONATHAN SCHWARTZ has been appointed Northwest Advertising Director, in the San Francisco Office, at Entrepreneur Media. Schwartz is replacing ED GOTFREDSON, who moved to Detroit, and is now working for This Old House. Schwartz was most recently West Coast Sales Director at MaxWorldwide, and was previously the VP/Associate Publisher-West for The Industry Standard.