Mar. '13 Food & Beverage PR Magazine (PDF) - Odwyerpr.com
Mar. '13 Food & Beverage PR Magazine (PDF) - Odwyerpr.com
Mar. '13 Food & Beverage PR Magazine (PDF) - Odwyerpr.com
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WASHINGTON REPORT<br />
Justice PA chief exits for firm<br />
Tracy Schmaler, who heads public affairs for the U.S.<br />
Dept. of Justice, is leaving <strong>Mar</strong>ch 8 for a slot at ASGK<br />
Public Strategies, the firm founded by Obama advisor<br />
David Axelrod.<br />
Schmaler’s four-year<br />
tenure at the Justice<br />
Dept., where she was<br />
the top spokeswoman<br />
and key aide to<br />
Attorney General Eric<br />
Holder, included <strong>PR</strong><br />
victories like the<br />
defense of the<br />
Affordable Care Act<br />
and large settlements<br />
with mortgage brokers<br />
and oil giant BP, as<br />
well as crises like the<br />
“Fast and Furious” gun scandal.<br />
Irion takes Levick Pres. post<br />
<strong>Mar</strong>k Irion, former CEO of Dutko Worldwide lobbying<br />
firm, is the new President of Levick. Founder & CEO<br />
Richard Levick adds the Chairman title.<br />
Irion, who assumed Dutko’s top spot in 2003, led the management<br />
team that sold it to Huntsworth’s Grayling in 2009.<br />
Irion departed early last year from the<br />
CEO of Dutko Grayling and chief of<br />
Grayling’s PA practice slots.<br />
Under Levick’s leadership, the<br />
Washington-based firm is known for its<br />
corporate, crisis <strong>com</strong>munications and litigation<br />
<strong>PR</strong> efforts.<br />
Irion is expected to build on that base,<br />
plus Levick’s digital <strong>com</strong>munications<br />
savvy, to expand into the PA and issues<br />
advocacy categories.<br />
He told O’Dwyer’s that he wants to<br />
Schmaler<br />
In a statement, Holder thanked Schmaler for her “wise counsel,<br />
loyalty, good humor and unwavering support of me.”<br />
Schmaler is slated for a Managing Director role with ASGK,<br />
which operates in D.C., New York and Chicago. AT&T and<br />
Edelman <strong>PR</strong> veteran Eric Sedler is Managing Partner of the<br />
firm.<br />
She previously led public affairs for Yahoo! in Washington<br />
and <strong>com</strong>munications director to Sen. Pat Leahy (D-Vt.). She<br />
started out as a reporter in Vermont and Massachusetts.<br />
The Justice Dept. has not yet named a successor. Gina<br />
Talamona, a Justice vet, and Nanda Chitre, a former Clinton<br />
White House press deputy, are currently Deputy Directors. £<br />
Irion<br />
marry his “face-to-face” <strong>com</strong>munications expertise with<br />
Levick’s creative bent to forge “emotional messages” that resonate<br />
with a client’s targeted audiences throughout the world.<br />
That calls for an expansion of Levick’s physical footprint<br />
beyond Washington, both in the U.S. and overseas.<br />
Irion sees the opportunity to craft a “new, new” public policy<br />
<strong>com</strong>munications platform. at Levick. £<br />
F-H grabs Clinton aide as GM<br />
Fleishman-Hillard has handed the reins of its Washington,<br />
D.C., office to Kris Balderston, a deputy chief of staff to<br />
Sen. Hillary Clinton who followed her to the State<br />
Department.<br />
Bill Pendergast, who led the D.C. office for the past three years<br />
as GM, has relocated to Dallas.<br />
Balderston recently served as special<br />
representative for State’s Global<br />
Partnership Initiative, Clinton's push to<br />
engage privates businesses, universities<br />
and other groups for issues like<br />
HIV/AIDS, human rights and climate<br />
change.<br />
At F-H, he takes the senior partner and<br />
general manager titles in D.C. <strong>Mar</strong>tha<br />
Balderston<br />
Boudreau, an F-H President and Senior<br />
Partner who covers the Mid-Atlantic and<br />
Latin America for the firm, praised<br />
Balderston's understanding of the “intersection” of business,<br />
government and <strong>com</strong>munications.<br />
Before moving to the State Dept., he was Clinton’s deputy<br />
chief of staff from 2002-09 and earlier worked cabinet affairs in<br />
the Clinton White House. Earlier stints included posts with<br />
Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis, Sen. Majority Leader<br />
George Mitchell and the Dept. of Labor during the Clinton<br />
administration.<br />
F-H is part of Omni<strong>com</strong>.<br />
F-H’s federal work has recently included the Depts. of<br />
Homeland Security, Health and Human Services, Agriculture<br />
and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. £<br />
JDA taps Billeter for digital post<br />
Chris Billeter, previously with right-leaning <strong>PR</strong> shop, DCI<br />
Group, has joined JDA Frontline in D.C. as VP of digital<br />
media.<br />
The firm has also added Tommy Schultz, <strong>com</strong>munications<br />
director for the GOP push for Mitt Romney in New Hampshire,<br />
as a director.<br />
JDA last month added Kevin Sheridan, an Edelman alumn who<br />
handled <strong>com</strong>munications for Rep. Paul Ryan during Romeny’s<br />
presidential campaign, as a VP.<br />
Billeter was previously a deputy e-campaign director for the<br />
National Republican Congressional Committee. £<br />
40<br />
MARCH 2013 4 WWW.ODWYER<strong>PR</strong>.COM