WASHINGTON, DC—Porter Novelli Public Services has added Nick Lanyi as senior vice president, public affairs, responsible for managing the Washington office's public affairs practice under the direction of Catherine "Kiki" McLean, senior partner, global director of public affairs and managing director of Porter Novelli Public Services. Lanyi joins Porter Novelli after spending four years with LMG, most recently as managing director. Before that he was a freelance speechwriter, and spent eight years with Louis Rukeyser 's Wall Street, as senior managing editor and later executive editor.

NEW YORK—Sergio Morales has been appointed US practice leader for consumer and marketing communications at Hill+Knowlton Strategies. Morales will be responsible for providing strategic counsel and oversight on consumer and marketing communications clients, as well as building and strengthening client relationships within the practice, reporting to Dan Bartlett, president and CEO of Hill+Knowlton Strategies US. Previously, Morales, a senior vice president at the firm, served as head of consumer marketing and sports marketing in H+K’s New York office.

DALLAS—GolinHarris has appointed Christine Danuser and Eric Swayne as directors in its Dallas office. Danuser will serve the Dallas team as a client relationship leader for the consumer practice, helping to lead consumer campaigns for accounts like PetSmart and Red Bull. She rejoins the agency from Dr Pepper Snapple Group where she was manager of brand and corporate public relations. Swayne will lead the region's strategist community, heading up research and insights for clients, and will also lead digital advances to GolinHarris’ proprietary measurement framework. She joins GolinHarris from M/A/R/C Research.

CHICAGO—Cori Ashford has joined Weber Shandwick as a senior vice president in the firm’s global healthcare practice. Joining from Chandler Chicco Agency, Ashford will be based in Chicago. Over the course of her career, she led the agency team responsible for global and US communications activities for Bristol-Myers Squibb’s rheumatoid arthritis medication Orencia and has also worked extensively in the oncology and cardiovascular therapeutic areas.

CHICAGO— Walker Sands, a public relations agency for B2B and technology companies, has appointed Tory Patrick as an account director in its Chicago headquarters. Patrick will work with clients including AbsolutData, Acquity Group, Dotcom Distribution, Empathica, hybris, Infinite Convergence, KSC Kreate and ThreatMetrix. Prior to Walker Sands, she was account director at Vantage Communications in Washington, DC. In addition, former senior account executives Andrew Cross, Dave Parro and Will Kruisbrink were promoted to account directors.