Heather MurdickHeather Murdick

Chris SavareseChris Savarese

The Vandiver Group, St Louis, promoted Heather Murdick to director, creative content and brought on two new hires: Nate Shyrock as manager, digital strategy and Andrew Woodcock as account executive. Murdick, who joined TVG as director, content management, in March, has previously been communications director at Texas A&M University’s Center on Diversity and Development and spent 12 years at Bryan Broadcasting Corporation in College Station, TX. Shyrock comes to TVG from Drive Social Media Saint Louis, where he served as analytics manager. Woodcock, Indiana University graduate, completed internships with Fleishman Hillard and the St. Louis Blues.

Gavin named Chris Savarese VP-client services. Savarese joins from Text100, where he was a senior account director. He has also held positions at Ketchum, Edelman and AOL, working with clients ranging from Sara Lee Food and Beverage to MTV and Bravo.

PR Boutiques International elected a new slate of officers and board of directors. Lee Weinstein of Weinstein PR was elected to a second term as president. Debbie Hagen of Hagen and Partners was elected vice president, Lynette Werning of Blue Water Communications was chosen as secretary and Pawel Ostrowski of Warsaw Consultants was elected treasurer.

PROI members in BerlinPR Boutiques Int'l members in Berlin

Paul Furiga of WordWrite Communications is member as large and Kai vom Hoff of vom Hoff Communications is ex officio. New board members are Julia Labaton of RED PR, Jessica Nuñez of TruePoint Communications, David Eicher of Decibel Blue, Caraline Brown of Midnight Communications and Vivian Li of Geni-Plus PR Consulting Company. PROI’s next annual meeting will be held in June 2018 in Boston.

Jessica HatcherJessica Hatcher

Martha Porter FiszerMartha Porter Fiszer

The National Hot Rod Association named Jessica Hatcher senior director of public relations and communications. Hatcher has led campaigns for such brands as Applebee’s , JC Penney and SKYY Vodka. Hatcher, who says she attended her first NHRA event when she was two weeks old, will focus on continuing “the legacy, tradition and values” of the organization. She will report to Glen Cromwell, NHRA senior vice president of media and marketing.

Rhea + Kaiser tapped Martha Porter Fiszer senior vice president, executive creative director. Porter comes to R+K from Chicago-based LoSasso, where she was creative director. She has also held positions at Leo Burnett Worldwide, Ogilvy & Mather and MARC USA. In her new role, Porter Fiszer will oversee the agency’s creative operations as well as leading a team focused on solving brand and business challenges for R+K’s clients.

Cheryl Andrews Marketing Communications, Coral Gables, added several new members to its staff. Nina Zadeh, founder of her own creative consulting agency, is coming on as a social media manger. Bertha Diaz and Sara Leiter are joining the firm as senior account executives, while Karen Collazzo has been hired as an account executive. Shannon Cooney is CAMC’s new social media coordinator and Lauren Leiber has been promoted to account executive.