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| Matt Buchanan |
Burson promotes chief operating officer EMEA Matt Buchanan to global chief social and Influence officer, a newly created role. Before joining Burson in 2025, Buchanan was global & EMEA president at Ogilvy PR. He has also served as managing director at Havas-owned One Green Bean, where he launched the agency’s UK business. Clients Buchanan has worked with include The Coca-Cola Company, L’Oréal, Google, TJX Europe and Pfizer. In his new role, he will be responsible for building on the agency’s foundation in social and influence in the U.S. and scaling the capability globally. “Matt’s considerable experience in building modern, earned-first communication campaigns and driving results for clients across PR, social and influence make him the right choice to ensure that our clients’ narratives resonate,” said Burson CEO Corey duBrowa. In addition, Olly Gosling, who was most recently VP strategy, media & production at London-based ad agency Influencer, has joined the firm as head of social and influence, EMEA. He also has held key roles at The Walt Disney Company, Maker Studios and MediaCom.
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| Brendan McCarthy |
Seedtag, a “global neuro-contextual advertising company,” brings on former Edelman SVP, corporate and PA Brendan McCarthy as chief marketing & communications officer. McCarthy comes to Seedtag from commerce media company Criteo, where he was CMO. Before that, he was SVP, head of communications & product marketing at Nielsen Global Media. At Seedtag, McCarthy will oversee the company’s global marketing and communications strategy, supporting its international expansion while driving the evolution of privacy-first, neuro-contextual advertising across the open web and CTV. "Brendan brings the rare ability to turn vision into momentum and innovation into impact. As we expand Liz (the company’s proprietary AI platorm) and our neuro-contextual platform globally, his leadership will help brands connect with audiences in more meaningful, measurable ways,” said Seedtag CEO Brian Gleason.
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| Lauren Easton |
The Associated Press uos Lauren Easton to SVP and chief communications officer. Easton has been with the AP since 2015, most recently serving as VP of global communications. She began her career as a broadcast journalist at WLIX-TV in Lansing, MI. In her new post, she is responsible for all of the AP’s strategic communications, including crisis communications, reputation management, executive communications, media relations, internal communications, brand and corporate archives. “Over the past 10 years, Lauren has been a steady, trusted leader through moments of transformation, crisis and growth, always keeping the integrity of the AP brand front and center,” said AP CEO Daisy Veerasingham.
Steve Rice, who served as director of political mobilization for Boeing, joins DC-based bipartisan public affairs and strategic communications firm The Herald Group as SVP, overseeing its grasstops and 50-state field operations. 
Qorvis has named Victor Shiblie senior advisor to boost its international network and global business opportunities.
Pierre DuBois has taken the VP-public affairs post at AIB Data Centers, developer of the digital infrastructure for AI hosting and high-performance computing workloads.
Allison Worldwide names Victoria Brophy EVP, head of corporate and technology in Europe. Brophy comes to the firm from Golin Ketchum London, where as EVP she built and led the London Corporate Affairs practice... 
Signal Group, a DC-based public affairs firm, hires Josie Feron as director. Feron was most recently communications director for the Office of Congresswoman Deborah Ross (D-NC)... Moburst, a mobile-first digital agency driven by a proprietary AI program, appoints Etgar Shpivak as VP of marketing... Howard University hires Jasmine Gurley as senior director of public relations in the Office of University Communications.
