CHICAGO—Peter Marino, who sold his Chicago-based public relations firm Dig Communications to Minneapolis ad agency Olson at the end of 2010, is joining brewer MillerCoors as vice president of communications.

Reporting to Nehl Horton, chief public affairs and communications officer, Marino will lead a unified communications function for MillerCoors and drive the development and implementation of our communications strategy in support of a strategy the firm is calling Winning in Beer 2.0. His responsibilities will include internal communications, media relations, marketing communications, meeting and events, consumer affairs, and sales and distributor communications. 

Mike Hennick, director of sales and distributor communications; Julie Kubasa, director of internal communications; and Jonathan Stern, senior director of marketing communications will report to Marino, and Karina Diehl will report to him on an interim basis in the company’s lead media relations role.

Marino launched Dig Communications in 2004 with six employees and Miller Brewing Company as its first and only client, and built it into a 45-person firm with annual billings of $7.5 million before its sale to Olson. Marino then served as president of public relations and a member of the OIson executive leadership team, and Dig was rebranded under the Olson name, winning our Consumer Agency of the Year and Specialist Agency of the Year awards at last year’s SABRE dinner.

Marino served as acting director of media relations at Miller Brewing Company from late 2004 to early 2007 and at MillerCoors from late 2011 until his latest appointment and was involved in the announcement, launch and successful start-up of MillerCoors.