Roll Call: FleishmanHillard, Fenton, Steinreich Communications Group, and More

FleishmanHillard has announced new leadership for its global strategic integration team. Stefan Gerard, based in New York, will serve as the firm’s global strategic integration lead. In addition to this role, he will lead the New York office’s brand marketing group. Gerard, a senior vice president and senior partner, has helped lead the agency’s strategic integration practice in the Americas since joining the firm in 2010. He brings to the position a unique mix of multidisciplinary experience across advertising, public relations, digital content, brand strategy, consumer research and experiential activation. In his expanded role as the global lead, he is responsible for developing and managing the structure and strategy for the firm’s large-scale client engagements that span geographies and disciplines, as well as overseeing the integration of creative and planning disciplines into the firm’s overall offering. (Release) After nearly 33 years as CEO of his own firm, David Fenton has sold the agency and appointed a new chief executive. His own role will shift to one of chairman, effective immediately. Former Billboard editorial director Bill Werde has taken on the role of Fenton's new CEO. Werde most recently worked on new business opportunities at Guggenheim Digital, which oversees Billboard, Adweek, and The Hollywood Reporter. Fenton sold the agency to two new owners, Craig Leach, CEO of Graham-Pelton, and James Marcus, director at Graham-Pelton Consulting and former head of Fenton Studios. With the buyout, Fenton has joined Collegium, a network of cause-related agencies, which Leach and Marcus launched about nine months ago. (PRWeek) Steinreich Communications Group, Inc. has announced that Ariella Steinreich joined the firm as media relations director. Steinreich will be responsible for providing media strategy and counseling, as well overseeing the integration of traditional and social media campaigns. Steinreich most recently was a senior associate at Burson-Marsteller where she handled global media relations for several of the agency’s clients. Prior to this position, she was at Kwittken, where she also handled media relations. Earlier in her career, Ariella interned at Steinreich Communications, which was founded by her father. PRNewser asked Mr. Steinreich how he addressed the challenge of hiring his daughter and whether working with parents/children requires a different approach of some kind. Mr. Steinreich said that hiring "always begins at making sure you attract and retain the top talent you can find. The 'deal' I have with my kids...is that while they are in school, they can intern for our company, but they work and report to different supervisors... Once they graduate school, I want them to work outside my firm for a few years where they can get a different agency experience. Ariella learned a tremendous amount from her mentors at [previous jobs]. Hence, when we spoke about her joining Steinreich Communications, it was more of a career move from an experienced professional." When asked about other candidates and how it was decided that Ariella would take on this role in the team, Steinreich responded, "...we are always looking for good people. We have historically had a media relations leader and it was only fitting given her experience that she take that role at the firm. She has become a real media relations talent and I think the whole leadership team was happy to have her on board." Robert Schooling has left his role as chief advocacy and alliance development officer at health insurance giant Anthem, which rebranded from WellPoint this month. Schooling left Anthem in November and launched a PR firm in Washington, DC, named Reservoir Communications Group, which has six staffers and plans to add more. Schooling serves as president of Reservoir, which will provide brand, reputation, and advocacy services to clients across the healthcare, energy, chemical, and financial services industries. Anthem has not yet determined how to replace Schooling, said Kristin Binns, VP of PR for the company. Members of the corporate communications and public affairs teams have taken over his duties in the interim. (PRWeek) Brownstein Group (BG) hired Danielle Rossi as vice president, director of brand strategy & integrated marketing to lead the agency’s strategy and digital and media operations.The company has also hired Aimee Cicero as agency communications manager. With 15 years of experience, Rossi will play a key role in BG’s core management team. As vice president, director of brand strategy & integrated marketing, she is responsible for leading the Brand Strategy team in the creation and optimization of brand identities for new and existing clients. She will also oversee the agency’s digital production, SEO, SEM, and media planning services. Prior to BG, Rossi worked for Star Group, Finch Brands and Gyro Worldwide. As agency communication manager, Aimee Cicero is leading and managing all of BG’s internal and external communications. Prior to BG, Cicero was the director of communications for Major League Soccer’s Philadelphia Union. (Release) APCO Worldwide announced today that Karen Buerkle has been named managing director of APCO Insight, the opinion research consultancy of APCO Worldwide. Bill Dalbec assumes the role of deputy managing director for APCO Insight. As managing director, Buerkle will lead the strategic development of Insight’s offerings and manage the daily operations of the group. As deputy managing director, Dalbec will be charged with continuing to grow the firm’s public affairs research globally, building on previous success with TradeMarks and a strong portfolio of public affairs research across in the United States and Europe. The firm also announced the appointment of Chris Levy as director for APCO Insight, who will manage all the group’s activities in Europe. Levy is the former associate director at YouGov and will be based in APCO’s London office. Levy has hit the ground running engaging with several key clients and will lead APCO’s annual TradeMarks study in Brussels, which measures trade association effectiveness and will be launched into the field this week. (Release)

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Roll Call: FleishmanHillard, Fenton, Steinreich Communications Group, and More

Elizabeth S. Mitchell

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Elizabeth S. Mitchell