SAN FRANCISCO— Chris Knight, most recently senior vice president of the global technology practice at Ruder Finn has launched Divino Group, a brand marketing and PR consultancy that plans to provide CMOs and brand marketers with solutions for the new new media world. Knight founded the firm with six others, including husband Celso Dulay, who will serve as executive producer in charge of the group’s video and broadcast news services; Diana Stoneberg, a consumer tech product expert and television and radio personality; Gretchen Throop Williams, an artist with experience across graphic design, photography, music and video; Kimberly Quinn Devine, who worked with Knight for more than a decade at FleishmanHillard and Cohn & Wolfe; and Matt Schwarz and Tania Kempf, who also worked with Knight early in their careers.

NEW YORK—Spectrum, the Washington, DC, healthcare communications specialist, has opened in New York under the leadership of managing director Michelle Gross, most recently with Chamberlain Healthcare Public Relations. Other new additions include senior vice presidents Michelle Strier, who joins from Shared Voice Communications, and Tim Goddard, who will worked with GlobalHealthPR, a partnership of independent health and science communications agencies founded by Spectrum.

NEW YORK—Korn Ferry has hired Peter McDermott as a principal in the corporate affairs practice. He will specialize in corporate communications and investor relations searches across all industries. McDermott joins Korn Ferry from Taylor Bennett, a London-based communications search firm that is aligned with Heyman Associates in New York, where he spent nearly five years focused on the communications functional space in the US and abroad.

NEW YORK—M Group Strategic Communications has rebranded its New York headquarters, formerly JMR Worldwide NY. The new group provides corporate communications services— public and investor relations, public affairs, crisis and issues management, and marketing communications—across a wide range of vertical industry sectors, with a focus on the energy, financial services, industrial and technology sectors.