NEW YORK—Ketchum has promoted Amy McCarthy, partner and director of the New York healthcare practice, to the role of director of client development for the North America healthcare practice, while Tom Jones has returned to Ketchum to take on the role of director, New York healthcare practice. Jones joined Ketchum in 1995 and departed in 2002 for a leadership role at Novartis and most recently served as senior VP and head of Makovsky’s healthcare practice.

CHICAGO—FoodMinds has added Mitch Kante as its chief science officer. Kanter will work closely with FoodMinds co-founders Laura Cubillos, Bill Layden and Susan Pitman, to advise clients on the critical science and evidentiary issues facing the food, beverage, nutrition, health and wellness sectors. He also will co-lead the Global ExpertBench, a network of nutrition experts spanning six continents. Kante most recently served as executive director of the American Egg Board/Egg Nutrition Center, and has worked with food companies including The Quaker Oats/Gatorade Company, General Mills and Cargill.

LOS ANGELES and SAN FRANCISCO—Ketchum has appointed two new associate directors in Ketchum West: Suzanne Maloney, partner and director of strategic and creative planning, and Kevin Oates, partner and director of the Ketchum West corporate and public affairs practice, They are based in Ketchum's San Francisco and Los Angeles offices, respectively.

ST. LOUIS—FleishmanHillard has named Della Sweetman as chief business development officer, a newly created position. Sweetman has been head of the agency’s business development efforts for the Americas since 2013. The firm has also named Marianna Deal as managing director, business development for the Americas; Paul Haugen as managing director, business development for Europe, Middle East and Africa; and Joanne Wong as managing director, business development for Asia Pacific.

NEW YORK—W Allen Shapard, a former senior vice president, global partnerships, at WME/IMG, has joined APCO Worldwide as senior director, chair of public engagement strategies. Prior to joining APCO, Shapard served as senior vice president, global partnerships, and head of global institutions group for WME/IMG, the international media, marketing, entertainment and sports conglomerate. Shapard first joined IMG in 1996 as vice president and associate general counsel, having earlier spent three years as an associate counsel at Morrison & Foerster and Dow Lohnes in Washington, DC.

WASHINGTON, DC—Global Strategy Group has added Marissa Padilla as vice president based in Washington, DC, and working with clients on public affairs and communications campaigns. Padilla comes to GSG from the US Department of Health & Human Services, where she served as the principal deputy assistant secretary for public affairs. Prior to HHS, Padilla served as an Obama appointee at the US Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

NEW YORK—Fenton, the social change agency, has hired Karen Hinton, as the managing director of its New York City office and the firm’s chief strategy officer. Before joining Fenton, she was president of Hinton Communications, a public relations firm with offices in Washington, DC, and New York. In addition, Valarie De La Garza, formerly of The Rogers Group (now Finn Partners), MSLGroup and her own consultancy De La Garza PR, will join as managing director of the Los Angeles office. Devi Ramachandran Thomas joins as a senior VP focused on CSR; and Eric Hollister Williams and Lucille Renwick join as vice presidents.

BOSTON—PAN Communications has hired Michele Frost as vice president of digital. Most recently, Frost was a director at Blackboard, running the digital marketing and campaign performance center. Prior to Blackboard, Michele was a director of marketing at Boston Children's Hospital and vice president of digital marketing at Forrester Research.

LOS ANGELES—Rogers & Cowan has added Alisa Granz as executive vice president in its consumer practice. Prior to joining Rogers &Cowan, Granz served as the vice president of communications and corporate affairs for Age of Learning, At Ketchum, where she was a senior vice president, she created and drove the media relations strategy for the award-winning “Doritos Crash the Super Bowl” campaign.

ST. PAUL, MN—Brian Israel has been promoted to group director at Beehive Strategic Communication. In his new role, he oversees a portfolio that includes financial service and healthcare clients. He will continue to help set strategic direction for his clients and manage project teams, while helping to grow Beehive's sports marketing and sponsorship activation expertise. Israel joined Beehive in 2012 as an account director.

ANNAPOLIS, MD—Crosby Marketing Communications has added Jennifer Brohinsky as a senior integration manager. Brohinsky will manage national communications programs for Crosby clients, including the US Department of Health & Human Services. She previously was a senior health communications specialist/project director for Abt Associates.

CLEVELAND—Dix & Eaton has promoted Nicolle Huffman to senior account executive; Angela Almasy and Megan Stinn to account executive; and Angel Seymour to office coordinator.

CHICAGO—SE10, an international B2B public relations agency, has promoted Chi-an Chang to account director. She has been managing communications for two of SE10’s largest clients, Volvo Construction Equipmentand Skyjack, a global aerial work platform manufacturer.