Craig Pugh, who helmed the Lowry Park Zoological Society in Tampa for the past five years, is the new president of Public Communications Inc.
He was responsible for a LPZS staff of 350 and annual budget in the $20M range.
Earlier, Pugh served as executive director of the Palm Beach Zoo.
The Chicago native worked in top editing jobs at Scott Foresman Publishing and Times Mirror/Mosby Year Book before joining the Chicago Zoological Society as associate director-communications.
Pugh, who gets an ownership stake, takes the title from CEO Jill Allread, who held both positions since 2010. Allread remains at the helm.
She said Pugh's "proven talents in executive management and collaborative team development strategically enhance our capacity to meet the needs of our diverse clients.”
DJE Holdings, parent of Edelman and Zeno, launches RUTH as an independent shop named after Ruth Edelman, mental health advocate, wife and longtime business partner of Dan Edelman.
New York City PR firms make up the largest slice of O'Dwyer's 147 firm overall ranking with 33 of 40 in the New York/New Jersey area either calling Manhattan their home or having a presence there.
Subject Matter+Kivvit, which joined forces in May, has rebranded as Avoq, an integrated shop with more than 200 professionals in Washington, New York, Asbury Park (NJ), Miami and Chicago.
While PR pros stationed at in-house comms. teams and those working for agencies share many of the same objectives, they also have markedly different top priorities, according to a recent report.
Edelman is cutting 240 employees or about four percent of its workforce to cope with the cooling down of the PR sector, according to a memo from CEO Richard Edelman.
Have a comment? Send it to 
No comments have been submitted for this story yet.