Steve Barnes is associate editor at O'Dwyer's. His publishing career includes stints at Condé Nast, Hearst and the Wall Street Journal, where he served as assistant news editor for the Weekend Journal. He was also managing editor at ARTnews and production editor at Medical Marketing & Media.
In a past life, he taught film studies at New York University and Adelphi.
Connect with Steve on LinkedIn
| • | FGS Tops Mergermarket's Rankings Again(Financial PR & Investor Relations) Thu., Jul. 30, 2026
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| • | Accounts in Transit: Champion Picks Up Brooklyn Water Bagel(News of Accounts) Thu., Jul. 30, 2026
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| • | On the Move: Quest Diagnostics Names Chokshi IR Chief(Personnel Appointments) Thu., Jul. 30, 2026
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| • | Credibility Gap Spills into Business Arena(PR Research) Wed., Jul. 29, 2026
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| • | Accounts in Transit: IMAGINE PR Lands England's Louma Country Hotel(News of Accounts) Wed., Jul. 29, 2026
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| • | On the Move: Zeno Group Adds Axicom Trio(Personnel Appointments) Wed., Jul. 29, 2026
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| • | PR Firm News: CGLife Combines with The Considered+AI(PR Firm News) Tue., Jul. 28, 2026
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| • | On the Move: Masco Names Hiranaga as CMO(Personnel Appointments) Tue., Jul. 28, 2026
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| • | On the Move: Reputation Partners Recruits Sinclair's Pavlick(Personnel Appointments) Tue., Jul. 28, 2026
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| • | PR Firm News: Iran Tops AI as Reputation Risk(PR Firm News) Mon., Jul. 27, 2026
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| • | On the Move: FCB's Cooke Joins BarkleyOKRP(Personnel Appointments) Fri., Jul. 24, 2026
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| • | Media Maneuvers: WNET Names O'Keefe CEO(Media News) Fri., Jul. 24, 2026
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| • | PR Firm News: Stagwell Acquires QStrauss Consulting(PR Firm News) Fri., Jul. 24, 2026
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| • | Narrative Names Biden Vet as Managing Director(Personnel Appointments) Thu., Jul. 23, 2026
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| • | PR Firm News: Havas Acquires Holland's SportVibes(PR Firm News) Thu., Jul. 23, 2026
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FGS Global keeps its position at the top of the heap in Mergermarket’s rankings of the top PR advisors in M&A deals for 1H26.
Champion picks up Delray Beach, FL-based Brooklyn Water Bagel, known for bringing an authentic New York-style bagel experience to guests through its proprietary water technology... Ruder Finn partners with Wendy’s to drive executive visibility, corporate reputation, strategic storytelling, creator and influencer engagement, cultural relevance and issues management... IMAGINE PR lands US duties for Austria's Burg Hotel Lech. 
Quest Diagnostics recruits Merck executive director Daimini Chokshi to serve as VP, investor relations... The Roederer Collection USA, the domestic portfolio of the family-owned Maison Louis Roederer, one of Champagne's most distinguished producers, names Angie Vetter as its director of marketing... Zeta Global, an AI infrastructure company, appoints Trey Campbell as SVP, investor relations.
A new Burson report finds that a general lack of trust in social and political institutions has spilled over into the business arena.
IMAGINE PR lands North American PR duties for England's Louma Country Hotel... Meyocks is selected by the U.S. Dairy Export Council to design and produce marketing materials and communication assets across a global portfolio, spanning domestic markets and international audiences... TEAM LEWIS wins AOR responsibilities for Lazada Malaysia, which operates under Alibaba's International Digital Commerce Group.
Zeno Group adds Axicom's Matt Lackie, Lisa Sullivan and Jake Green to its leadership team... DGA Group promotes Michael Bessey and Tim Saunders to partner... DCI Group recruits ex- CNN White House correspondent Kate Bennett as VP... JOTO PR Disruptors up Norman Arjonilla to COO.
CGLife, a pharma agency focused on clients who are bringing therapies for rare, specialty and hard-to-treat diseases to market, combines with AI-native agency The Considered+AI... PRSA-NY announces the shortlist for the 2026 Big Apple Awards... The Agency East Public Relations, a Fort Lauderdale–based shop that works exclusively with women business owners in the early growth stage, is expanding its practice to help women business owners get found and cited by AI answer engines like ChatGPT, Google AI Mode, Perplexity, and Claude.
Masco Corporation, which designs, manufactures and distributes branded home improvement and building products, names Brad Hiranaga CMO, a newly created role... Unisport Soccer, a digital soccer-focused platform, appoints Denise Karkos as global CMO... Snapshot, a Nashville-based marketing agency that works with behavioral health, industrial and professional services organizations, promotes Josh Moquin to president. 
Reputation Partners appoints Keegan Pavlik as VP of AI integration & strategy, a newly created role... TrailRunner International brings on Liz Baker as a director, based in New York... VOX Global recruits Sydney Ringer, who was most recently VP, health at Edelman, as VP in its healthcare practice. 
Global Situation Room’s latest Reputation Risk Index says that the Iran War has overtaken artificial intelligence as the top reputational risk for companies... RKD Group, a fundraising and marketing services firm that works with mission-driven organizations, acquires creative agency Whiteboard... The Public Relations Collective launches.
BarkleyOKRP has named Brandon Cooke chief marketing and growth officer. Cooke joins the agency from FCB Global... Calkin Public Affairs brings on Melissa Figueroa as an SVP, leading client accounts and the firm's transportation practice... L3Harris Technologies promotes Kaitlyn Arena to VP, global communications. Arena has been with L3Harris since 2020, most recently serving as senior director, external communications.
WNET, the nation’s largest public media company, names Edward O’Keefe its next president and CEO, effective September 21. O’Keefe succeeds Neal Shapiro, who becomes president emeritus and will retire at the end of the year... The Stealth Bot Prohibition Act, which would empower news publishers and other content providers to defend themselves by mandating transparency for all bots crawling their sites, in introduced in the House by Rep. Laurel Lee (R-FL) and Rep. Valerie Foushee (D-NC)... Google gets socked by European Union regulators with a $1 billion fine for using the platform’s dominance as a search engine to illegally undercut competition.
Stagwell is acquiring QStrauss Consulting, an Adobe implementation and consulting firm based in Colombia... Tayeh Capital Group, a private equity firm dedicated to building value in middle-market professional and industrial services companies comes on as the first institutional investor in Council Advisors... Go Social and Morpheus Brand Consulting release a new study in the run-up to National Rum Day on August 16, showing how rum brands are represented across AI-powered consumer discovery... Catalytic Agency, a Cambridge, MA-based independent communications agency and creative studio, celebrates its fourth anniversary with a refreshed website and new agency reel.
Jim Secreto, who held several posts in the Biden administration, joins Narrative Strategies as managing director.
Havas acquires SportVibes, a Dutch sports marketing agency focused on brand activation, sponsorship rights and IP, communication, events, ticketing and hospitality... The Story Mob, which helps teams, tournament organizers, players and publishers tell their stories, unveils a new brand identity and launches Play Makers, a strategic consultancy arm designed to help brands, rights holders and leadership teams understand, navigate and grow within player culture... Signal Group launches Signal Health.