Smith Brothers Advertising has hired MICHAEL BOLLINGER as director of client services. He joins the agency from DDB Worldwide.

American Business Media has appointed VICKIE SZOMBATHY vice president, media director of StarLink Worldwide, the chairperson for the recently formed Media Advisory Board. As chairperson, Szombathy will direct the board in achieving their goal to identify best practices and determine ways to provide value to marketers through targeted research and the dissemination of needed information that will assist in documenting the value of business-to-business media.

GE Commercial Finance Global Media & Communications has named THOMAS M. BYRNE as senior vice president, origination. He will be responsible for originating and structuring debt transactions for companies in the cable and telecom sectors. Byrne joined GE in 2002, most recently serving as senior vice president for GE Commercial Finance's Corporate Lending group.

Karacters Design Group has named JOHN FURNEAUX as managing director of the agency’s Toronto operation. For the last 15 years, Furneaux worked at Toronto-based Ove Design & Communications where he most recently served as executive vice president.

ROB WILK has been named the director of marketing at Dennis Publishing's new online, mobile, and video division Dennis Digital. Wilk will oversee the marketing staff and lead the push to increase Web site traffic on all of Dennis Digital's online entities. Prior to joining Dennis Digital, Wilk was the director of search engine marketing at Avenue A | Razorfish Search, the search engine marketing division of Avenue A | Razorfish.

Draft has hired WALKYRIA "WALLY" REY as vice president, director of cross-cultural marketing. Rey most recently was a consultant for Dyson Inc., where she led trade and online marketing and new product launches for the vacuum manufacturer. Prior to Dyson, Rey worked with AT&T Wireless, Clorox, and the U.S. Army as a cross-cultural marketing consultant focused on reaching Hispanic, African-American, and Asian consumers.

The Business Planning Group (BPG) at McGarrah/Jessee has hired SUSAN VERRILL, most recently a brand planner at Arnold Worldwide in Boston, Mass. Verrill was at Arnold for five years, where she played a key role in the agency’s strategic planning for Volkswagen.

MPG Canada, MPG’s Canadian unit, has named GERARDO MARIÑAS as managing director. Mariñas joins the Toronto headquarters of MPG Canada following seven years working within MPG Global in a variety of positions. He was most recently senior vice president of International Coordination, streamlining operations across countries and markets. He has also managed MPG's global relationships with key clients, including DIAGEO, France Telecom, and Carrefour. Mariñas will report to Charlie Rutman, CEO of MPG North America.

Meredith Corporation has named BRENDAN SMYTH as the Eastern advertising director of Family Circle. Smyth will oversee the sales efforts for the New York, Northeast, Middle Atlantic, and Southeast territories for the magazine. Smyth spent the last four years as was the Eastern advertising manager of Midwest Living. Prior to that, Smyth served for four years as an account executive at Better Homes and Gardens magazine.

LAURIE NATIONS has been elected president of the Chicago Chapter of Women in Direct Marketing International (WDMI). Nations, who continues in her post as senior vice president and group account director at Draft Chicago, will take office on July 28.