- Lane Bailey has been named president of GolinHarris Public Affairs. He had been head of the DC office of GolinHarris. Bailey has been with the agency for 10 years and has more than two decades of DC experience, including serving as chief of staff to Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV).
- Susan Corsini, deputy managing director of the DC office of GolinHarris, moves up to managing director. Corsini, who started her career at GolinHarris/LA, returned to the agency last year after serving as managing director at OAI, a nonprofit consulting firm. Prior to that, she was managing director and senior VP of The Sallie Mae Fund, and was also acting COO for PowerUP: Bridging the Digital Divide, an initiative of The Steve Case Foundation.
- Chris Foster, Burson-Marsteller's US Healthcare Chair, has been named to PRWeek's annual list of the top-40 industry professionals under the age of 40. Foster is based in the firm’s DC office.
- MDB Communications promoted Kathryn Graham McNally to account supervisor and Cady Loftus to assistant account executive/junior media planner.
Prior to joining the agency, McNally, pictured above, worked as an account coordinator at DDB Los Angeles.
Loftus started her career in advertising at MDB as a summer intern prior to her college graduation. Once she graduated, Loftus joined MDB as a coordinator, providing assistance and support for the entire agency.
- Susan Hager, who headed the communications firm Hager Sharp and died in 2008, was profiled in The Washington Post Magazine's Jan. 4 lead story on "Eleven people with two things in common: All died in 2008. And all proved there's no such thing as an ordinary life."
- The Independent Public Relations Alliance, a network of 75 senior-level communications executives who own or operate independent practices in the D.C. area, announced its Executive Board . The 2009 IPRA Board of Directors are:
- President Sheri L. Singer, president, Singer Communications
- President-Elect Sandra M. Remey, APR, president, Remey Communications
- Treasurer Ami Neiberger-Miller, APR, chief executive, Steppingstone, LLC
- Secretary Robert Deigh, principal, RDR Communication/PR
- Membership Co-Chairs: Sandra M. Remey, MA, APR, president, Remey Communications; and, Susan C. Rink, principal, Rink Strategic Communications
- Program Co-Chairs: Robert Udowitz, principal, Robert Udowitz Consulting; and, Pauline Ellmore, owner, PR Works, LLC
- Marketing/PR Co-Chairs: Mary-Jane Atwater, president, Atwater Communications; and, Claudia Askew, president, ASQ Communications
- Education Co-Chairs: Helen Sullivan, APR, Fellow, PRSA, president, InHouse Communications, LLC; and, Michael Sheward, APR, president, Management Communications Strategies
- Partner Chair: Patrick Pellerin, Patrick Pellerin Public Relations
- Immediate Past President: Tim Ayers, president, Ayers Associates, LLC
- Ad Hoc Member: Chris Ourand, Chris O Communications
- Rick Kourchenko joins Nasuti + Hinkle Creative Thinking as a creative partner. An art director, he comes from The Zimmerman Agency in Tallahassee, Florida. He has also worked with BBDO, Mullen, Goldberg Moser O'Neill, Huey Paprocki and Cole Henderson Drake.
- Charlie Brotman, founder, CEO and Chairman of the Board at Brotman.Winter.Fried Communications, is serving as the announcer for the upcoming inaugural parade. For the 80-year-old Brotman, this will be his 14th consecutive inaugural, his 11th president, in 52 years, starting with the 1957 inauguration of Dwight Eisenhower. In reporting this story, The Washington Post stated: “Some traditions an incoming president just can't mess with.”