West Hollywood Firm Receives a New Prescription

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Weber Shandwick has a new general manager running its West Hollywood office. Her top priority is to grow the agency’s health care business.

The firm hired Lorie Fiber away from Edelman, where she helped establish the firm’s L.A. health care practice and supervised work for all life science clients in the United States.

Fiber said her new agency, which is based in New York, already has a strong health care program, but she can still grow the client list.

“My role is to support existing clients and build out work globally in medical devices, diagnostics and medical IT,” she explained.

The company has plenty of nonhealth clients, including Chevrolet’s electric Volt vehicle, Hewlett-Packard and Mattel. Its main local health client is City of Hope in Duarte.

Fiber said she took the job because “there is this killer entrepreneur spirit here and it’s a fun place to work,” but also because of the firm’s expertise in digital communications, the major new development in the PR profession.

Weber Shandwick, a subsidiary of publicly traded Interpublic Group, was named digital firm of the year earlier this month at the PR News Awards in New York.

Battery-Powered Buzz

JMPR Public Relations, a Woodland Hills firm focused on the automotive industry, has signed its first electric automaker.

Think EV, based in Oslo, Norway, has developed a battery-powered two-seat vehicle called the Think City, which it plans to introduce to the North American market next year. The company has sold about 1,500 Think Cities in Europe.

JMPR will manage PR for the North American launch of both the car and the company. The account includes media relations and community outreach in the auto sector in preparation for the opening of the Think EV assembly plant in Elkhart, Ind., later this year.

JMPR’s other clients include Bentley Motors, Galpin Motors, Bugatti Automobiles, Aerostream and Kampgrounds of America.

Sitrick’s EVP

Sitrick and Co., a crisis communication firm in Century City, has promoted Glenn Bunting to the new position of executive vice president and vice chairman of the company’s management committee.

Bunting, a former deputy business editor at the Los Angeles Times, joined Sitrick in 2007. Since last year, he has worked as managing director of the firm’s offices in San Francisco, Silicon Valley and Miami. In his new job, he will continue to oversee those operations as well as head up new business development for the entire company.

“Glenn has done an outstanding job of both servicing clients and helping to build the firm,” Michael Sitrick, founder and chief executive, said in a statement. “I am confident that Glenn will achieve the same results in his new expanded role.”

Sitrick and Co. specializes on PR during bankruptcies, litigation and corporate governance disputes. The firm is a unit of Resources Connection, a business consulting firm based in Irvine.

Agencies & Accounts

Levine Communications Office has signed boxing champ Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao as a client. The L.A. PR agency will handle publicity for his new biography, “Pacman,” scheduled for release in November. … Troika Design Group in Hollywood has assumed the lead role in graphic design for the Hub, a family cable channel formed by Discovery Communications and Hasbro. The design studio developed the logo, on-air promotions and advertising campaign. The channel premiered Oct. 10. … Media-N-Motion, a downtown L.A.-based company that puts advertising on tanker trucks, is now selling advertising on pedicabs in New York. Pedicabs, also known as cycle rickshaws, are bicycle-powered outdoor taxis popular near tourist spots such as Times Square and Rockefeller Center. The first advertising on pedicabs was for the TV series “Meet the Browns.” … Blitizen Kane, the house band at digital ad agency Blitz in Santa Monica, was the winner of the 2010 AdJam: Battle of the Agency Bands. The competition is organized by local trade group thinkLA. … Rob Gerds is the new managing director of Grey West, which includes the ad agency’s operations in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Previously, he was president of Matheson Gerds Advertising in Atlanta. … Exhibition and event staging company 2heads Design, based in Checkendon, England, has opened a West L.A. office. Local clients include Walt Disney Co. and Sony. … Eric Psalmond has joined 72andSunny in Venice as digital technology director. He previously worked at Studiocom, where he managed the development of MyCokeRewards.com. … Mike Hoye, a former publicist at Roddan Paolucci Roddan, has formed Mike Hoye Public Relations & Advertising. His clients include Mission Inn Hotel & Spa, Bobby Jones Golf Co. and Retention Specialists. … Investor relations firm Abernathy MacGregor has promoted Ian Campbell, managing director of the firm’s downtown L.A. office, to vice chairman. He’ll remain in Los Angeles.

Staff reporter Joel Russell can be reached at [email protected] or at (323) 549-5225, ext. 237.

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