WASHINGTON, DC—William Whitman Jr., a veteran communications leader and public relations executive, has been named vice president, corporate communications, at the US Postal Service. Whitman recently served as vice president and chief communications officer for McDonald’s USA, where he spent 13 years in senior positions in communications and corporate relations. Prior to McDonald’s, he held leadership positions with Exxon USA.

SOUTHLAKE, TX—Technology company Sabre has appointed Charles Young as senior vice president, corporate marketing and communications. He will lead internal and external communications, media relations, event and brand management, corporate responsibility, and marketing communications for the travel and tourism industry supplier. Young most recently served as vice president of strategic marketing for Quest Diagnostics.  He previously held senior marketing and communications roles with Zimmer, WellPoint, Tyco International and GE Healthcare.

HOUSTON—Howard Thill, vice president of corporate, government and investor relations for Marathon Oil Corporation will retire effective April 1, 2014, following 12 years of service. The investor relations function, led by director Chris Phillips, will move under the direction and leadership of J.R. Sult, executive vice president and CFO. The corporate and government relations functions will be consolidated into a new organization called corporate communications, under the direction of Sylvia Kerrigan, executive vice president, general counsel and secretary and led by Paul Weeditz, director, corporate communications.

GERMANTOWN, MD—Intrexon Corporation, a leader in synthetic biology, has named Samuel Broder, most recently chairman of Intrexon's health sector and former director of the National Cancer Institute, as executive vice president of scientific and public affairs reporting to chairman and chief executive officer Randal Kirk. Broder will lead Intrexon's communications programs with media, academia, government, and non-profit organizations.