News From Burson-Marsteller, Fahlgren Mortine, Beckerman, Zimmerman, and Hill+Knowlton
Jonathan Stern Now MD for Burson-Marsteller’s Miami Office
Jonathan Stern just joined Burson-Marsteller this week to become their managing director and market leader in the Miami office. This office works for Florida accounts but also works a great deal with Latin American businesses. Stern will be in charge of client branding/marketing, consumer, digital, health care, media relations, reputation management, tech, corporate, crisis management, sports, public affairs, investor relations, government affairs, and also provide senior counsel to top clients. In the past, he’s worked with MillerCoors, Platinum Marketing Communications, and Cramer Krasselt.
Fahlgren Mortine Now Part of Eastport Holdings, LLC in Memphis
Eastport Holdings, LLC (Memphis, TN) just acquired Fahlgren Mortine, headquartered in Columbus, OH, but with another 14 office in the US including their travel sector PR company in New York, Turner. Fahlgren had a 20% growth in 2016 with net fees of nearly $24.5 million. Neil Mortine will continue as CEO and president, and Chris Turner will keep his president spot in Turner.
Beckerman Picks up Chicago Digital
Chicago Digital, a full-service digital marketing agency, is now under the Beckerman umbrella along with Beckerman PR, Antenna, _Eco Branding, and Paul & Zakheim Associates. The addition brings online solutions and digital innovative experience for Beckerman’s clients. This merger was helped by Gould+Partners.
Keith Zakheim, Beckerman’s CEO, said: “Expanding our offerings means that we can deliver an even greater variety of services under one umbrella, ensuring a more seamless and streamlined experience for our clients. Building teams with domain and service area expertise has been the cornerstone of our success, and the addition of Chicago Digital is consistent with that brand promise.”
Zimmerman Draws From McDonald’s For New Leaders
Zimmerman recently won as one of the few agencies doing national PR work for McDonald’s. During this process, they got to work with several people at McD’s, enough so that some left McD’s to join Zimmerman. One of those is Carol Koepke as SVP and Account Director. Carol has more than two decades of marketing working with QSR and retail. Her new job will include watching over the addition of 4500 restaurants. Another one who came over is Mark Carlson who will be Creative Director.
Bully Pulpit Interactive Claims Hill+Knowlton’s Claire Koeneman
Claire Koeneman left Hill+Knowlton Strategies after more than two decades to join the digital marketing and communications firm, Bully Pulpit Interactive. She will be a partner there. While at H+K she was in positions such as EVP, practice leader of financial communications, central region chief, and president of the Financial Relations Board.
In her new job, she’ll be increasing their corporate communications in the Midwest. She’ll work out of the Chicago office. She joins another former H+K alumni, Andrew Bleeker who is one of the founders of Bully Pulpit. Bleeker was one of the head digital marketing strategists for Barack Obama’s presidential runs.
