 Shawna Seldon McGregor |
Grasslands, which represents clients in the cannabis, tech, entertainment and hospitality industries, has brought on Shawna Seldon McGregor as managing partner. McGregor will lead the firm’s PR department, in its new Denver office. McGregor comes to Grasslands from The Rosen Group, where she served as senior VP. She established TRG’s Denver office in 2012 and became one of the first PR pros working in the legal cannabis industry. She began her career at Porter Novelli’s pharmaceutical practice, working on accounts including SmithKline Beecham and Pfizer. Grasslands was established in 2017 by Ricardo Baca, former marijuana editor of the Denver Post and the original editor-in-chief of news site The Cannabist. “With Shawna’s arrival at Grasslands, we’ve finally completed the transition into a legitimate full-service agency,” Baca said.
 Lisa Halliday |
ID has hired Lisa Halliday as chief communications officer. For over a decade, Halliday was head of communications and brand strategy for Oprah Winfrey and Harpo Inc., serving on Winfrey’s executive leadership team and spearheading the launch of such brands as OWN, O Magazine, Harpo Films and Harpo Productions. Prior to Harpo, she held senior positions in PR at Walt Disney Studios, Twentieth Century Fox and Columbia Pictures. In this new position, Halliday will complement ID’s team in Los Angeles and New York across all facets of the agency’s business. ID has also recently promoted several longtime executives to senior VP including Allison Elbl, head of ID Music, and Sara Serlen and Harlan Gulko, co-heads of ID Film, TV and Content.
 Itay Filiba |
Blink has added Itay Filiba to its executive team as VP of product and development. Filiba comes to Blink from London-based Channel 2 News, where he was head of digital products, managing the channel’s technology integrations. He also oversaw the production of major news events, including the 2012 Olympic Games and the 2011 Royal Wedding. Before joining Channel 2 News, he was a TV director for the Parliament Channel and Entertainment Channel, both in Israel.
 Amy Sedeño |
Carolyn Izzo Integrated Communications has promoted Amy Sedeño to Director. Sedeño currently oversees several travel and tourism accounts at the agency, including Barbados Tourism, Cancun/Riviera Maya Tourism Board and Cala Luna Hotel in Costa Rica. Before coming to CIIC, she was an account executive at Newlink Group. In her new position, Sedeño will spearhead the agency’s operations out of Miami, helping to develop communication strategies focused on the travel, real estate, food & beverage and lifestyle industries. She will also drive new business opportunities and prioritize the growth of the agency’s services in the U.S., Mexico and Latin America.
HUNTER promotes Gigi García Russo to president and Michael Lamp to chief digital & transformation officer.... Cars.com Inc. a car-shopping marketplace, names Sarah Kettler CMO, effective June 15...The Trade Desk, an advertising tech company, appoints Sarah Gavin as CMO and EVP.
Brittany Sullivan, who held the senior VP-executive director of marketing post at Golin, has moved to Burson.
Codeword brings on Melody Brue and Jess Graham as part of a push to bolster its capabilities in market intelligence and commercial strategy... Havas Edge, which specializes in data-driven media, creative and customer acquisition strategies, for health, tech, consumer, retail and financial brands, promotes Pam Caputo to EVP, health media... Rezolve Ai, the London-based developer of Brain Suite, an enterprise AI platform purpose-built for agentic commerce, appoints Michele Fisher as CMO.
Jamie Dowd, who was most recently president of the health practice in the Americas at Weber Shandwick, comes on board at Allison Worldwide as global president, health + wellness, effective June 22.
Burson is bringing on Hanover managing director, Middle East Jonty Summers as head of corporate affairs in Dubai at the end of June... Ridgepost Capital, which had over $45 billion in assets under management as of March 31, names Brian McKenna VP, investor relations, effective June 15... The Center for AI Safety appoints Rochelle Nadhiri as head of public engagement. 
