MSLGroup North America president Renne Wilson will head the 2014 Cannes Lions jury for PR.
The Lions competition, which added a PR category in 2009, is slated for June 15-21.
Elise Mitchell, CEO of Mitchell Communications in Fayetteville, Ark., is the other U.S. rep on the PR jury.
USA Today and Gannett have signed on as U.S. sponsors for the event, officially dubbed the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, which honors campaigns in advertising, branded content, film and product design, among other categories.
“Never before in the history of the public relations industry, has there been more of an opportunity for the PR function to demonstrate leadership, and the many multi-faceted contributions it can make to the broad world of communications and engagement," said Wilson, who is moving to a chief client officer role at MSL at the end of the month.
While PR has been in the competition for five years, a PR firm has not yet won the top PR prize, known as the Grand Prix.
Ketchum Europe CEO David Gallagher led last year's PR jury.
Ad agency McCann Melbourne and client Metro Trains (Australia) won the top PR honor for 2013.
AB InBev has hired Donna Lorenson as chief communications officer and elevated the PR function to the senior leadership structure in the aftermath of the Bud Light marketing disaster.
Tunheim handled the Minnesota USA World Expo bid committee, which on June 21 congratulated Serbia for landing the 2027 event.
United Minds, management consultancy, has launched Myriant, a business resiliency offering to help clients deal with the challenges during this era of misinformation, polarization and geopolitical upheaval. 
ImageShield, which guards against online image abuse, is looking for a communications pro to handle its PR and marketing campaigns.
Who knew that there is a real paper company, Pennsylvania Paper & Supply, inside the iconic building seen at the opening of every episode of “The Office?” 
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