People on the Move
Tuesday, February 25, 2003

  • DaimlerChrysler's Mercedes-Benz USA has named MICHELLE CERVANTEZ as Vice President of Marketing. She will succeed Dave Schembri, who will now oversee the automaker's Starmark certified used-car unit. Cervantez had been Manager of Cross-Brand Strategy at Ford Motor Co. since last May. Her prior job had been Vice President of Marketing at Ford's Jaguar Cars North America, which she started in the summer of 2000.

  • boede&partners announced the addition of DEON LEWIS to its team of senior account directors. The firm, which serves business-to-business and technology clients such as Unisys and Microsoft, hired Lewis to oversee the agency's work for Network Associates, Inc. (NAI), a leading provider of security services and software such as McAfee Anti-Virus. Before joining boede&partners, Lewis was a senior vice president at Grey Worldwide in San Francisco where he most recently worked on the acquisition and development of the agency's Cisco Systems account.

  • Meredith Corporation announced that KAMY RIZZO has been named Account Manager for Better Homes and Gardens magazine, effective immediately. Before joining Better Homes and Gardens, Rizzo was a New York Manager at Sports Illustrated Women magazine. Previously, she was publisher of SRDS. She started her career in advertising in the media department of Young and Rubicam.

  • MIKE WILIE, new majority shareholder of Witherspoon Advertising and Public Relations in Fort Worth, has been named Chairman and Chief Executive by the agency's board of directors. Wilie is only the second person to hold the titles in Witherspoon's 57-year history. Wilie formerly served as Executive Vice President.

  • JAMIE KELLNER, CEO of Turner Broadcasting System, is leaving the AOL Time Warner cable division after two years on the job and is returning to his previous role as Chief Executive of the WB Network. Kellner became Chairman-CEO of TBS in 2001. Executives say Kellner wanted to return his family to the West Coast, where he was based with the WB, from Atlanta, TBS's headquarters.

  • MICHAEL JACOBSON joins three other industry veterans in the founding of Modern Consumer (www.modernconsumer.com), an online marketing services firm focusing on lead generation and their web property, Driverloans.com. Jacobson has been in the interactive space since 1996, serving roles at NewYorkNow.com, Blue Marble, NOVO (currently known as Semaphore Partners), and most recently AGENCY.com's i-traffic, where he managed online media initiatives for Sprint, Columbia House, Memberworks, and Discovery Networks.

  • The Managing Director of the Burger King account at DraftWorldwide, MIKE BUZCKOWSKI, is returning to crosstown rival Frankel as Director of Client Services. Buzckowski was a onetime senior executive on the McDonald's account at Frankel in early 2001 before leaving to head the Burger King account at the Interpublic Group of Cos. agency.

  • CitiCam Moondance, New York, has announced the hiring of VITO BARBARA as Director of Business Development. Barbara previously established the direct response marketing division of IPG’s Western International Media, managed direct response for PolyGram and Universal Music Group and headed sales and marketing for Madacy Entertainment’s Alphabet City Sports Records.

  • Premier Retail Networks, creator of the large in-store media network, announced that the Company has hired JOE MURPHY as Vice President of Retailer Marketing. He most recently served as Division Sales Manager/Team Leader for Schwartzkopf & DEP, where he was responsible for 35 percent of total company sales.

  • New Orleans Emmis Communications Corporation announced the addition of television sales veteran JEFF WEST as General Sales Manager of Fox 8, WVUE-TV in New Orleans. West has served as an account executive at WATE in Knoxville, a sales representative for Blair Television in Atlanta, an advertising sales representative for Raycom, and as an account executive, local sales manager and national sales manager at Charlotte's WBTV.

  • Galavision, a leading Spanish-language cable network, announced the promotion of DAVID GROSSMAN to Manager, New York Sales, and the appointment of JOHN SWARTZ and PAMELA REYES as Account Executives for Network Sales. Most recently, Grossman was Account Executive for the TeleFutura Network Sales department. John Swartz comes to Galavision from ABC Cable Networks Group in Burbank, California, where he held the position of Senior Account Executive from February 2001 to the present. Before joining Galavision, Pamela Reyes was Marketing and Promotions Manager for Televisa International in Miami, Florida.

  • VICTOR M. IVES, veteran Oregon Broadcasters has been named Chairman of SoundWorks International a company which has been formed by the merger of White Springs Media a company formed to own and operate an existing earth station satellite up-link facility located in White Springs, Florida. and SoundWorks.

  • SCOTT LOOS has been named Director, Ad Sales, Western Region, Game Show Network. Prior to joining Game Show Network, Loos held the position of Vice President, West Coast Sales for iVillage, a women's media company. Previously, Loos worked for Vivendi Universal Net as Vice President, West Coast Sales, managing the post merger integration of the West Coast sales team of GetMusic and RollingStone.com with MP3.com and overseeing account assignments.

  • KURT SCHNEIDER has joined World Wrestling Entertainment as Executive Vice President of Marketing. He had been President and CEO of the online sports and fitness company Asimba, Inc.