CHICAGO—Lainey Canevaro (pictured) is joining Ketchum as senior vice president and Midwest brand practice leader. She will report to Bill Zucker, partner and director of Ketchum Midwest.  Canevaro brings more than 18 years of experience running integrated marketing programs across sectors, including food service, spirits, home products, consumer health, sports, entertainment and nonprofit. She was most recently senior vice president, consumer and lifestyle brands, at Edelman and earlier held positions with Special Olympics and RHB Ventures.

MINNEAPOLIS—Padilla Speer Beardsley has hired Riff Yeager as vice president, primarily serving as senior counsel to current clients and as a developer of new clients. Yeager brings extensive background in all areas of corporate and marketing communications. Most recently, he spent nearly 13 years growing and managing Exponent PR, part of the Colle McVoy advertising agency. Prior to leading Exponent PR, he directed corporate communications for Koch Industries, one of the world’s largest privately held companies.

CHICAGO—GolinHarris has appointed two award-winning broadcast journalists to lead the Dallas and Chicago hubs of the Bridge, a network of multi-media engagement centers. Stephanie Matthews, who worked for ABC’s  World News Now  and  Good Morning America,  will serve as Bridge chief in Dallas. Following a 23-year career in Chicago television news, Jay Foot has been named Bridge chief in Chicago.

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Paul Werth Associates is expanding its higher education practice with the hiring of Michael Lassiter, who helped guide the rollout of the new brand strategy for Ohio’s only publicly funded, historically black university. Lassiter served as the brand manager for Central State University during its 2009 rebranding initiative. He helped create the school’s social media strategy and provided media relations support.

MONTREAL—Weber Shandwick has hired Annie Marsolais as vice president based in Montreal, where she will contribute to the development and expansion of the firm’s Canadian operations and will report to François Taschereau, executive vice president and general manager of the firm’s Montreal and Ottawa offices. Marsolais was a senior communications executive at Yellow Pages Group/Yellow Media since 2002, and earlier worked on the agency side with Fleishman-Hillard.