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| Rick French |
French|West|Vaughan CEO Rick French, along with Melissa Etheridge, is being honored at Rockers On Broadway, an annual music event that raises money for charities including pre-professional training and scholarships in the performing arts. The Oct. 16 event, which marks its 30th anniversary, is presented by The Schoch Foundation and The PATH Fund, a leading nonprofit dedicated to performing arts education. This year’s concert, which will feature such performers as Tony Award winner Michael Cerveris, benefits a consortium of charities that includes Broadway Bound Kids, Broadway Cares Equity Fights AIDS, The Buddy Holly Educational Foundation, The Felix Organization, Teen Cancer America, and The PATH Fund. French is chairman of The Buddy Holly Educational Foundation as well as a member of the board of trustees of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame + Museum in Cleveland. “Every year the Broadway community comes together on this special night to honor individuals who uplift and contribute to the performing arts, and having Melissa and Rick as this year’s honorees is something I’m very excited about,” said PATH Fund founder Donnie Kehr.
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CLYDE, a Washington, DC-based communications firm, is recognizing National Poll Worker Recruitment Day (August 23) by committing to give any employees who register to be poll workers on Election Day a paid day off. An initiative of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, an independent, bipartisan commission whose mission is to help election officials improve the administration of elections and help Americans participate in the voting process, National Poll Worker Recruitment Day is an effort to address the critical shortage of poll workers. “In line with CLYDE's mission of making a difference and impacting outcomes, coupled with the missions of our clients, we felt it was important to incentivize our employees to participate in the democratic process first-hand by becoming poll workers across the country,” said Clyde senior VP Lilia Dashevsky. “Our actions create trickle down effects to our clients who can do the same as they look ahead to the difference they can be making in 2024.”
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| Abbey Bako, Coco Schiffer |
Shine Talent Group, an influencer talent management agency, opens a new hub in New York City. The agency currently has hubs in Los Angeles, Toronto and London. Senior director Coco Schiffer and head of talent Abbey Bako will be leading the New York operation. “Shine has longstanding relationships with New York brands and agencies. Having two of our senior team members based locally will allow us to further these relationships and become even more integrated, operating as an extension of their marketing teams," said agency co-founder Jess Hunichen. Hunichen and fellow co-founder Emily Ward also recently announced the launch of Shine Ventures, an angel investment fund focusing on early-stage startups with strong digital engagement.
RooneyPartners, a New York–based firm, launches Wealth Watch with Jim Pavia, a podcast featuring conversations with wealth advisors and investment professionals... Beehive Strategic Communication founder and CEO Lisa Hannum will transition executive leadership and ownership of the firm to long-time partners Nicki Gibbs, Ayme Zemke and Rebecca Martin beginning mid-year... MillionPodcasts, a podcast database for PR and comms teams doing guest-booking outreach, moves out of beta, where it pulled in 10,000 signups and 500 paid subscribers.
MACCO Group, a national business restructuring and financial advisory firm, launches a dedicated crisis communications and special situations practice... Anomaly, a Stagwell unit with 600 staff across its talent hubs in Los Angeles, New York, Toronto, London, Berlin and Shanghai, launches a Paris office... ASTRSK PR opens applications for its 8th Annual Pro Bono Contest. The contest awards one early-stage startup, founded by a woman, BIPOC, AAPI and/or LGBTQIA+ entrepreneur, with a full year of PR services valued at over $200K.
Highwire launches AcroAI, an agentic AI platform... FGS Global introduces a new brand identity... Coyne Public Relations puts an inclusive spin on Take Your Child to Work Day with its new “Take Your VIP to Work Day”... Marino SVP Jordan Isenstadt is elected to the board of directors of the National Cannabis Industry Association.
CIVIC, a New York-based brand experience agency, acquires strategic communications consultancy Wave Kilo... Hotwire Global reaches an agreement with Morning Consult to give Hotwire Global instant access to Morning Consult’s proprietary dataset... The Public Relations Student Society of America announced its 2026–2027 International Committee... Avenue Z is named a Shopify Platinum Partner, the highest tier of Shopify’s Service Partner Program.
