SAN FRANCISCO—BitTorrent has promoted Christian Averill to vice president of global communications and brand from his previous role as director of communications. He will continue to lead on education and awareness of BitTorrent technology and the company mission, while overseeing the introduction of new products. Averill came to BitTorrent after six years with the FleishmanHillard family and earlier started Text 100's global consumer practice.

DETROIT—DTE Energy has named Paula Silver to the position of vice president, corporate communications. Silver will report to Dave Meador, DTE Energy vice chairman and chief administrative officer and will be responsible for planning and oversight of advertising, sponsorships, brand management, digital communications, media relations, internal communications, marketing communications and operational communications. She replaces Sandy Ennis, who is moving into a new position as vice president, diversity and inclusion. Silver comes from Federal-Mogul Corp., where she was vice president of communications and investor relations.

PARSIPPANY, NY—Wyndham Worldwide has appointed hospitality industry veteran Nadeen Ayala to the post of senior vice president, communications, responsible for internal and external communications functions. Ayala, who joins Wyndham from Starwood Hotels & Resorts, brings more than 20 years of experience in global corporate, brand, reputation management and executive communications strategies.

LOS ANGELES—Starz has promoted Eric Becker to SVP, corporate communications; Shannon Buck to SVP, programming publicity; and Colleen Curtis to SVP, consumer and digital publicity. A 16-year Starz veteran, Becker is responsible for corporate communications for Starz, including its Starz Worldwide Distribution and Starz Digital divisions and other holdings. He joined Starz in 1999. Buck was promoted most recently from VP, programming publicity. Based in the company’s New York office, Curtis joined Starz in 2014 as VP, consumer and digital publicity.

SAN DIEGO—aTyr Pharma, a biotherapeutics company engaged in the discovery and development of therapeutics to address rare diseases, has named Marcy Graham as vice president, investor relations and corporate communications. Graham was previously executive director of investor relations and corporate communications at Ambit Biosciences, and earlier held roles at Sequenom, Genoptix, and Novatel Wireless.