NEW YORK—Management consulting and M&A advisory firm Prosper Group has added strategic advisors Kathy Cripps, former president of the PR Council for more than 14 years; Rum Ekhtiar, who most recently launched RF Radius, an integrated marketing practice at Ruder Finn; Ken Jacobs, a veteran of leadership roles at Lippe Taylor, Marina Maher Communications, Ogilvy and more; and John Seng founder and former CEO of Spectrum Science Communications.

BOSTON—Rasky Baerlein Strategic Communications has changed its name to Rasky Partners following the departure of two partners, Joe Baerlein and Ann Carter.  The firm, founded by Larry Rasky in 1989 as Rasky & Company, will continue to operate in Boston and Washington, DC, with the remainder of its management team and employees in place.

NEW YORK—Jessica Schaefer, former vice president of corporate communications at Point72—which manages manging the assets of billionaire and philanthropist Steve Cohen—and its venture-capital arm Point72 Ventures, is launched Bevel, a public relations consultancy that will connect clients with stakeholder communities. The firm will focus on fintech, hedge funds, enterprise software, venture capital firms, big data, artificial intelligence, professional services, and regulatory technology. Prior to Point72, Schaefer had multiple sales and marketing roles at Moody’s Analytics and worked at Prosek Partners.

NEW ORLEANS—Brazilian public relations firm SPMJ Comunicação has opened an international base in New Orleans. The 30-year-old firm specializes in service to international brands that promote activities in Brazil and Latin America, including IEEE, Irdeto, Silver Springs Networks, and Abbvie. The new office will be led by international business development manager Katie Gray.

GAINESVILLE, FL—Gary Grates, a principal at W20 Group, has been appointed director of the IPR Organizational Communication Research Center, a leading source of employee communication research, best practices and measures. Before joining W2O, Grates established and led Edelman’s change and employee engagement unit and served as VP, corporate communications/North America at General Motors.