Ben Branham, who served as executive vice president and chief strategy officer for New York City’s Economic Development Corporation, has moved to Fenton, where he assumes the role of managing director for that firm's New York City office.
Branham held the NYCEDC post for three years, during the mayorships of Michael R. Bloomberg and Bill de Blasio. Prior to that, he was vice president of public affairs at Edelman.
“Ben is an advocate for cultivating growth, innovation and economic opportunity in both traditional and emerging industries,” Fenton CEO Bill Werde said in a statement. “We are thrilled to have him join us at this time of evolution and social change progress at Fenton.”
Fenton, which bills itself as a “social change” agency, specializes in corporate responsibility and PR support for non-profit organizations. They are particularly known for their advocacy campaign work for organizations such as MoveOn.org and Greenpeace. The progressive firm, which was purchased last year by agency holding group Collegium, has offices in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.
New CEO Bill Werde, a veteran of music trade magazine Billboard, joined the firm ten months ago.

maslansky + partners, a specialist consultancy within Omnicom Public Relations, names founding partner Keith Yazmir president of the firm... The National Football League Players Association names Matt Taylor chief communications officer, effective Sept. 8... Repay Holdings Corporation, a provider of bill payment solutions, appoints Charles Nabhan as head of investor relations.
Bospar hires veteran technology, cybersecurity and healthcare sector journalist and content creator Doug Olenick as tech and healthcare content director... The Huntington National Bank appoints Ameesh Vakharia as EVP and chief marketing and digital products officer, a newly created role... SDA International, a Honolulu-based strategic communications firm, promotes Cassie Kim to SVP.
Burson Brussels chief client officer Ruud Wassen has moved to Consello to open its outpost in the headquarters city of NATO and the European Union.
Reputation Advisors International adds Newick Consulting founder Peter Thomas as its newest member. Based in Abu Dhabi, Thomas has more than 35 years of experience advising major global clients on reputation issues... TruePoint appoints April Steinbach, who has held senior creative posts at BBDO and McCann Worldgroup, as creative director....Athene, a subsidiary of Apollo Global Management that focuses on retirement solutions, names Brett Gibson EVP and head of investor relations. Gibson comes to Athene from JP Morgan Securities.
Stellantis names Stephanie Hartgrove chief communications officer. Hartgrove joins Stellantis from Johnson & Johnson, where she was global vice president of MedTech communications and public affairs... FINN Partners appoints Kim Sizemore as head of integrated media. Sizemore joins FINN from Wieden+Kennedy... Lucid Group, which makes software-defined vehicles and technologies, names Angela Zepeda as Vice President, Global Marketing. Zepeda was most recently global head of marketing at Elon Musk's xAI. 



