ST. LOUIS—FleishmanHillard has named Della Sweetman, senior partner and general manager of Southern California, as senior vice president and senior partner of business development, Americas. Sweetman will work with business leaders and teams across both the Americas and international markets to attract new clients, with a focus on larger accounts. In addition, the firm has promoted Emily Frager, senior vice president and senior partner in Los Angeles, to general manager for FleishmanHillard’s San Diego office. She will focus on growing the agency’s business and driving new opportunities within the market and surrounding regions, including Arizona, Nevada and Hawaii.

PARSIPPANY, NJ—Coyne Public Relations has added sports PR and digital media expert David Cooper (pictured) to the agency’s sports and media practice as vice president. Cooper will work with existing clients including Daytona International Speedway, the United States Golf Association, and Ironman, and will support new business development efforts. Since 2010, Cooper has operated his own PR business working with clients that include, NFL Players Inc., the NBA, the NCAA, and former NFL MVP Kurt Warner. Previously, he spent seven years at the NBA, including a role as senior director of marketing communications.

CLEVELAND—Dix & Eaton has promoted Matt Barkett to senior managing director, Lisa Zone to managing director and James Brown to chief financial officer. Barkett heads the firm’s crisis communications practice and has experience in media relations, crisis communications, litigation PR and reputation management. Zone, head of the firm’s marketing communications practice, has expertise in branding and image campaigns, social media marketing, product launches, consumer and trade media relations programs, trade show management and special event planning.

BOSTON—PAN Communications has added Nicole Messier as a vice president in its technology practice. Most recently, Messier led corporate communications for Apprenda, where she helped position the enterprise cloud company through targeted media and content strategies.  Her background also includes management roles at A&R Partners, Shift Communications and Edelman, as well as her own tech practice.

SAN FRANCISCO—Landis Communications has hired Sean Dowdall as general manager and chief marketing officer, providing strategic counsel to LCI clients and overseeing marketing and digital practice areas, as well as supervising financial management for the agency. In addition, David Cumpston joins as director of client services, and Eric Steckel is named digital media strategist.