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| Lee Norris |
Prix Productions, the long-form content subsidiary of Raleigh, NC-based French/West/Vaughan, has brought on actor Lee Norris as its first development executive. Norris, who grew up in Greenville, NC, gained prominence when he portrayed Stuart Minkus on the ABC sitcom Boy Meets World. He also co-starred on the WB Network’s One Tree Hill, and recently wrapped shooting on the WWII drama Greyhound starring Tom Hanks. At Prix, Norris will help the company acquire, develop and produce feature films and documentaries. He will continue to pursue his acting career while working with Prix. French/West/Vaughan CEO Rick French and writer/director Patrick Shanahan founded Prix last year and over the last 16 months have teamed up on projects including the BMG-backed Buddy Holly biopic, Clear Lake, scheduled to go into production next year.
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| Kate Shanks |
The Kentucky Chamber of Commerce has named Kate Shanks vice president of public affairs. Shanks has been with the Kentucky Chamber since 2015, most recently as vice president of policy development. She previously held several positions working for a variety of Kentucky state agencies in such areas as communications, policy analysis and design, and legislative affairs. In her new role, she will lead the Chamber’s lobbying team and directs its public policy.
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| Gabrielle Weber (left) and Mini Johri |
Crosby Marketing Communications has promoted Gabrielle Weber to director of integration management and Mini Johri to director of production services. Before joining Crosby in 2015, Weber was a senior communications specialist at Abt Associates. In her new post, she will Weber will oversee national public health campaigns for clients in Crosby’s government practice, including the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Johri worked at Deutsch in New York and Ogilvy & Mather in Los Angeles before coming to Crosby last year. As director of production services, she will facilitate collaboration and communication efforts with internal teams and outside resources and vendors to keep creative and production projects on schedule and ensure they meet Crosby’s standards.
Actum has hired Cecelia Prewett, who was president of DC Public Affairs at SKDK during a nearly 13-year run, as senior managing director in its Washington office.
Franz Paasche, who was most recently EVP for public affairs and communications at Columbia University, will join Verizon as EVP, corporate affairs, effective Nov. 10.
Horizon Family Brands, which includes Horizon Organic and Wallaby Organic yogurt, hires Andrew Springate as CMO... Wake Tech, a Raleigh, NC community college that serves over 70000 adults annually, brings on Lisa Marie Ferrell, who previously led North America communications at Lenovo, as VP of communications and marketing... Golin brings on executive creative director Meg Farquhar in Chicago, and EVPs of strategy Tom Howells (Western Region) and Martin Coomber (New York).
Hotwire Global appoints Burson global chief digital & intelligence officer Grant Toups as global CEO, effective in January.
Bader Rutter, which works with clients in the agriculture, food, beverage and pet care sectors, appoints Demar Anderson as CMO... Acceleration Community of Companies appoints Michael Moschella to lead its new insights division, ACC Intelligence... Luminate, a London-based shop focused on infrastructure and energy sectors, hires Osman Dervish as director—head of development... The Alpine Group promotes Alison Graab to principal from SVP.
