LOS ANGLES—CRT/tanaka has named Craig Rexroad (pictured) as vice president and general manager of the agency’s Los Angeles office. Most recently, he was president of Blaze Public Relations, an agency primarily focused on the hospitality industry. Before Blaze, Rexroad held key leadership positions with Rogers Public Relations, Manning, Salvage & Lee, Rogers & Cowan and Edelman. Rexroad replaces Marcy Walsh, a 15-year veteran of CRT/tanaka who has taken a senior management position in the agency’s New York office.

NEW YORK—Samantha Cranko has returned to Chamberlain Healthcare Public Relations as executive vice president. Cranko will focus on leading major client engagements and new business development and will join the Chamberlain leadership team. She rejoins Chamberlain from Rabin Martin, where she oversaw public health communications campaigns for pharmaceutical and nonprofit clients. Immediately prior to Rabin Martin, she was managing director, New York, at GCI Health.

SAN FRANCISCO—Weber Shandwick has added Julie Lydon as vice president of its clean tech practice. Based in San Francisco, she will contribute to the management of Weber Shandwick’s clean tech accounts in Northern California. Prior to joining Weber Shandwick, she ran her own consultancy, where she spent nine years managing PR projects and ongoing programs for a variety of clients; and served as a dedicated, senior consultant to SparkPR from 2004 to 2011. Previously, Lydon worked for Porter Novelli in Boston and New York.

BOSTON—Rasky Baerlein Strategic Communications has added longtime Democratic strategist Michael Matthews as a senior vice president in the firm's Washington office. Matthews served as political director for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee for the 2002 election cycle and the 2000 Gore/Lieberman presidential campaign. Earlier, he directed national political training programs for the AFL-CIO. Prior to joining Rasky Baerlein, Matthews was a partner with LSG Strategies, a national political consulting firm.

WASHINGTON, DC—K-global, the public affairs consultancy, has added Jim Gwinner to the firm’s St. Louis office as vice president reporting to Carter Dunkin, managing director of k-global Midwest. Most recently, Gwinner served as principal of James Gwinner & Associates, a public affairs and grassroots consultancy he founded in 2006. He has also served as a lobbyist for several business and professional organizations.

NEW YORK—‘nition Design, a subsidiary of healthcare public relations firm Chandler Chicco, has hired David Lowe as creative director/advertising lead. Prior to ‘nition Design, Lowe spent more than seven years on the client side, directing the US marketing efforts for Fischer, the Austrian ski manufacturer, followed by 13 years as an advertising agency writer/creative director. In 2002, he opened his own successful boutique marketing firm, Wheelhouse.

NEW YORK—MWW Group has hired Richard Robbins as vice president, senior digital strategist and director of digital social innovation for Dialogue Digital, the agency’s digital and social media marketing practice. Robbins, who previously served as director of social innovation at AT&T, brings expertise using digital and social media to drive social innovation, consumer action and public policy changes. Before AT&T, Robbins worked for leading entertainment marketing and sponsorship agencies Festival Marketing and EMCI for clients including American Express, Guinness and HBO.

SAN FRANCISCO—Landis Communications has added Erin Hunt Moore as senior counselor. A food and beverage veteran, Moore has launched and overseen public relations efforts for clients including The Mina Group, French’s Foods, WJ Deutsch & Sons Premium Wines, Pernod Ricard USA, and Heineken. Most recently she was founder/principal at Erin Hunt Communications, and before that worked at Euro RSCG Magnet. The firm also added Keely Garibaldi and Tarah Beaven as account executive.

PITTSBURGH—WordWrite Communications has added veteran public relations professional Hollie Geitner as its vice president of Client Services. Formerly vice president of marketing and communications with non-profit Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership, Geitner has 14 years of experience managing public relations and marketing campaigns. Prior to joining the PDP, Geitner was manager of corporate communications for Greensburg-based Allegheny Energy.

CHICAGO—Zapwater Communications has named Mayra Bacik as its first partner. Bacik has served as chief financial officer since 2008. Before joining Zapwater, she was the manager of analytics and assessments for Cohen Financial and served as the vice president of finance for Landmark Properties.