HERNDON, VA—Volkswagen Group of America has appointed Mario Guerreiro as executive vice president, Volkswagen Group of America communications, responsible for corporate media relations, brand communications, all public relations campaigns, and internal communications. Following his career as a motoring journalist for various publications in his home country of Portugal, Guerreiro joined SEAT, the Spanish car manufacturer owned by the Volkswagen Group, in 1990 and moved to Audi in 2006. Most recently, Guerreiro served as head of international communications at the Volkswagen Group headquarters in Germany.

TORRANCE, CA—Toyota North American has appointed Scott Vazin as vice president of corporate and regional communications. Vazin arrives at Toyota from Volkswagen Group of America, where he served as executive vice president for the VW Group and brand communications. His career history also includes assignments at leading automakers Nissan North America and Mitsubishi Motor Sales of America.

NORTHBROOK, IL—Pharmaceutical company Astellas has appointed Christy Noland as its new director of business communications and advocacy, urology in the Americas, responsible for communicating Astellas' commitment to urology to patient and advocacy organizations. Noland comes to Astellas from Baxter International, where she was a director of communications for the renal business. Prior to that, she worked at public relations agencies including GolinHarris, Burson-Marsteller and Edelman.

WASHINGTON, DC—Cynthia Hogan, former deputy assistant to the President and counsel to the Vice President of the United States, has been named the NFL's senior vice president of public policy and government affairs. She will develop and implement the league's public policy and legislative initiatives and work with NFL teams on local and state issues. She will report to Paul Hicks, the NFL's executive vice president of communications and public affairs. Prior to joining the White House, Hogan was chief counsel, staff director, and counsel for constitutional law for the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary and an associate at Williams & Connolly.

SEATTLE—Alaska Airlines has named Bryan Zidar as its new managing director of corporate communications, heading up the company's public relations and employee communications efforts. Zidar most recently served as director of corporate communications at T-Mobile US, where he had responsibility for frontline employee communications and public relations. Before that he served as director of internal communications for the company. He started at T-Mobile predecessor, VoiceStream Wireless, in 2002 as senior manager of media relations.

WASHINGTON, DC—Financial advisor LPL Financial has added Nicole Petrosino as vice president, head of federal government relations, to oversee the opening of the firm’s DC office. In addition, LPL has appointed John Cronin as vice president, head of state government relations, supporting state-based public affairs efforts from the firm’s Boston office. Prior to joining LPL, Petrosino served as vice president at MasterCard’s office of government relations, while Cronin joins from the Vermont Department of Financial Regulation.