SAN FRANCISCO—Alison Schwartz is joining MWWPR as senior vice president and general manager of the firm's San Francisco office, responsible for growing both the office and the firm’s technology practice. Most recently at Grayling, Schwartz served as managing director of its San Francisco office and led the integration of the Atomic and Connecting Point acquisitions. Prior to Grayling, she was vice president, corporate communications at Move Inc.

NEW YORK—Marathon Strategies has hired two New York City Council communications directors: William Gerlich, former communications director for council member Jumaane Williams, is joining the firm as senior communications associate and Lucas Acosta, director of communications and legislation for council member Ydanis Rodriguez, is joining as communications associate. Gerlich has also managed media relations for a variety of progressive advocacy and political campaigns at a local, regional and federal level. Acosta has held a variety of roles in the New York City Council.

NEW YORK—W2O Group has hired Anita Bose as head of client development, based in Chicago. She joins from Cooney Waters and earlier worked with inVentiv Health. The firm has also hired Jennifer Labus as managing director of integrated marketing in New York; Jennifer Paganelli, who will co-lead the W2O earned media practices with Brian Reid; and Chuck Auletta, group director of digital marketing, who will open the Philadelphia office.

NEW YORK—G&S Business Communications has named Peter Donnelly as vice president, creative, a new position responsible for enhancing the agency’s creative strategies and leading the development of creative service offerings. Donnelly has led creative teams in Los Angeles, Sydney and London. He was most recently the creative director for Westfield Corporation, an Australian developer of shopping centers, based in California. Earlier, he held the same position at Spirit Solutions, an advertising agency in Australia.

HARTFORD, CT—Global Strategy Group has added Peggy Atherlay as a director based in GSG’s Hartford office. Atherlay previously served as communications director for the Center for Special Care in New Britain, and as communications director for the AmeriCares Foundation. In addition, she served as an assistant vice president of corporate responsibility for MetLife and at Ogilvy Public Relations in New York.

MIAMI—Public affairs and communications firm Kivvit, formerly known as ASGK Public Strategies, has hired Grace Ros Turiano and John Heffernan as principals. Turiano joins Kivvit having previously served as an account supervisor at Cone Communications in Boston. Heffernan most recently served as communications manager at Miami International Airport.

NEW YORK—Magrino has hired Amy Hoadley as senior account director, travel and real estate. Hoadley comes to Magrino from Lou Hammond & Associates, where she focused on the luxury travel sector including hotels, resorts and destinations. Previously, she founded and operated Hoadley Communications for 15 years, executing public relations for fashion, travel and accessory brands, and was public relations manager at Chanel.

HOLLYWOOD, CA—Allied Integrated Marketing has hired Jean-Jerome Peytavi as vice president, strategic marketing, charged with developing Allied's portfolio of arts and culture clients. Recently, Peytavi served as the marketing director of the Metropolitan Opera, and earlier was vice president of marketing and communications at Big Apple Circus.

WASHINGTON DC—FoodMinds has hired Kathryn Harrington as senior vice president in its Washington, DC, office. Harrington comes to FoodMinds from the US Navy, where she was a strategic advisor to the chief of information. She has also worked at Edelman and Ogilvy Public Relations.

NEW YORK—Rubenstein Public Relations has added Gerry Casanova as senior vice president, client services director. Casanova joins RPR from F-Factors, a New York-based nutrition counseling and media company, where he served as its chief marketing and media officer. Previously, he was director, communications & creative development at Hartmoor, following 15 years at Howard J. Rubenstein Associates.

BOSTON—Partners+simons, a brand communications and integrated marketing services firm specializing in healthcare and financial services, has hired Kelly Virgulto as vice president account director. Most recently, Virgulto lead market strategy initiatives for lifestyle, healthcare and financial brands for Copernicus Marketing Consulting & Research.