BOB SCARPELLI has been promoted to worldwide chief creative officer at DDB Worldwide. Scarpelli will retain his title of chairman of DDB Chicago. Scarpelli has led the creative teams responsible for some of DDB’s best-known campaigns, including Anheuser-Busch, Dell, and McDonald’s.

ROBIN KENT has stepped down as CEO of Universal McCann. MURRAY DUDGEON, COO, will replace him on an interim basis.

DAVID EDINGTON has joined Draft Chicago as senior vice president and group account director and will focus primarily on Draft's Fleetwood Enterprises account. Before joining Draft, Edington was a principal of the Machete Group, a digital design and innovation boutique in Chicago.

Infospace Search & Directory has named BRIAN BOWMAN to the position of vice president of marketing and product management. Bowman will lead marketing, creative services, and product management for Infospace’s Web search and online directory products for consumers and distribution partners. He most recently served as vice president of product development for Match.com.

Starmark International has named LAETITIA LAURENT-OTTOMANE as an account manager. In her new role, she will provide account services for clients such as Vista Healthplan Inc. and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Prior to joining Starmark, Ottomane served as a marketing/public relations coordinator for The Rand Eye Institute.

VICTORIA LOWELL and PATRICK LAFFERTY have been named senior vice presidents of marketing for Discovery Networks, U.S. The two will lead brand strategy development and oversee advertising and promotion campaigns. Lowell, who was promoted from vice president, marketing, Discovery Health Channel and FitTV, is responsible for all marketing efforts for Animal Planet, Discovery Health Channel, and FitTV. Lafferty, who joins Discovery from Leo Burnett USA, is responsible for all marketing efforts for Travel Channel, The Science Channel, Military Channel, and Discovery On Demand.

HOWARD SHIMMEL has joined Nielsen Media Research as senior vice president, client insights. He joins the company from America Online, where he served as vice president, market research since 2001. While there, Shimmel was responsible for research across all of AOL's business units, providing research support for AOL's brand positioning and advertising, product and premium service development, programming, and strategic initiatives.

ANGELA FLORES has been appointed Northwest manager at Organic Style magazine. Flores joins Organic Style from Line56 Media where she served as sales director and managed national sales and marketing. Previously, she worked as a sales representative at Forbes magazine.

Ad Partners has hired DARLENE LEVI as vice president, account director. Most recently, Levi was an account director at JA&G Advertising, where she handled the Eckerd Drug account. Prior to that she was an account director with Doner.

United Virtualities has hired JEREMY M. AARONSON as West Coast sales director, a newly created position. Aaronson joins UV from Longview Media (formerly Internet Fuel) where he worked since 1999, most recently as a senior sales executive. While there, he was involved with media buying and selling, business development, and account maintenance.

Scripps Networks has promoted ANNETTE LINDSTROM to vice president of marketing for Home & Garden Television. The 11-year Scripps veteran, former director of marketing for the network, will serve as marketing liaison to new business initiatives in the brand's content platforms.

DIY Network has promoted ROBYN ULRICH to senior vice president of marketing and public relations. Ulrich joined DIY in 2002 and oversees the brand's marketing and public relations efforts. She formerly served as the vice president of marketing. Ulrich started with Scripps Networks in 1994 as the new media director for the soon-to-premiere Home & Garden Television.

Siegel & Gale has promoted JASON CIESLAK to executive director, interactive media. Cieslak joined Siegel & Gale, Los Angeles in 1996 as a business development manager and was promoted to director of interactive media there in 1999.

Hill, Holliday has named BRIAN WHIPPLE as executive vice president and director of relationship marketing. Whipple joins Hill, Holliday from Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC), where he served as managing director and partner. Prior to CSC, he served as senior vice president and managing director of Rapp Collins Worldwide in Chicago.

LAURENCE LAFFORGUE has joined Ogilvy One as account director, partner, working on the interactive side of the CPG practice. Lafforgue previously worked at Nurun.

SUZANNE COLE has been promoted to senior vice president, media, Universal Pictures. Cole will serve as chief strategist for media planning for Universal Pictures' motion picture marketing campaigns, and for Universal Studios Home Entertainment's DVD and video releases. Cole joined Universal as vice president, media in 1999, and devised media plans for more than 100 theatrical and home entertainment titles including “Friday Night Lights,” “White Noise,” “In Good Company,” and “Ray.” Prior to joining Universal, Cole worked at PolyGram Filmed Entertainment and prior to that she worked at Saatchi and Saatchi, overseeing the media planning for MGM. 

ED VENTIMIGLIA has been appointed vice president/publisher up from vice president/associate publisher for Departures Magazine. He replaces KATHI DOOLAN, who is retiring from publishing. In addition, BROOKE LAFFAN has been promoted to advertising director from East Coast advertising director, and ERICA S. KASEL has been promoted to vice president of marketing from director of marketing. An associate publisher will be named soon.

Draft New York has hired DAVID LIEMER as vice president, creative director. Liemer will partner with vice president, creative director and art director GREG SHUEY to steer creative development on the agency’s newest client, Computer Associates. Most recently, he spent seven years as senior vice president, creative director at McCann-Erickson working on clients such as Lucent Technologies, Avaya Communications, Salomon Smith Barney, ExxonMobil, Gillette International, and Microsoft.

Response Mine has hired JOSH CARLSON as director of search engine marketing; DINO METAXOPOULOS as search engine optimization manager; and PETER RAO-MCCANN as an account director.

St. John & Partners Advertising & Public Relations recently promoted VICKIE GROVES to account executive and TARA NIGRO-SCHMITZ to media planner. Groves was promoted to account executive from assistant account executive on the agency’s Southern Ford Dealers account. Groves will manage day-to-day activities and oversee Southern Ford’s alliance events, including Race for the Cure and Monster Trucks. Nigro-Schmitz joined St. John & Partners in January 2003 as assistant media planner for the agency’s Ford Dealer Association accounts.

JUDY L. HARRIS has been named president and chief executive officer of Channel One. Harris comes to Channel One from PBS where she was most recently executive vice president of PBS businesses, responsible for revenue generation in the consumer and educational markets. She succeeds JIM RITTS, who last year announced his departure.

EyeWonder has hired a bevy of account managers across numerous offices. LUKE PARDI joins theNew York Office and previously served as an account manager in AIG's eBusiness department, where he produced online marketing campaigns for AIG's national and international business units. The Los Angeles Office has hired DAN DRESSEL. Prior to EyeWonder, Dressel served as a project coordinator for at AT&T Broadband's call center and direct sales teams. PLES BRUCE works in the Atlanta officeand most recently served as a senior consultant with IBM in Atlanta. KRISTEN WILLS joins the Atlanta office and previously served as an account manager at Claritas in Atlanta and as a project manager at Clear Channel /CMI. Lastly, VANESSA SOTO joins the New York office having most recently served as manager of industry initiatives for the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB).