NEW YORK — Sloane & Company has expanded its senior team with two promotions and four new hires as the MDC corporate consultancy attempts to broaden its capabilities and support growth.

The new hires are Jenn Dahm as SVP and director of strategic insights and public affairs; Greg Marose as VP; Alex Shippee as senior associate digital strategy and Meghan Warren as senior associate. Promotions include Michelle Peters to SVP and Ariel Kouvaras to VP.

"We have a huge growth opportunity in front of us and we are investing in it, adding top tier talent in 2017 that will help us move our firm forward by providing new energy and idea, additional capabilities and valuable human capital to enhance our performance," said Whit Clay, co-CEO of Sloane & Company.

Clay said Dahm and Shippee's positions are newly created roles to add additional capabilities in research, messaging, data, analytics, measurement and targeting. He added that all of the new hires are to support and spur Sloane's growth in client relationships and new business.

"In terms of growth opportunities, we have seen a growing interest from our existing clients in additional services that we can now provide, whether that's social media and digital capabilities or research and messaging. This cuts across the entirety of our business, corporate, public affairs, investor relations, crisis and special situations work," said Clay.

Darren Brandt, co-CEO of Sloane, said that in addition to the firm's growth plans this year, it is also "committed to taking more risks and being more actively seen in the communications marketplace."

"Those who know us, trust us and consider us a fantastic firm. We need more folks to know us," Brandt said.

Brandt said that firm plans to use the new team to execute its growth strategy. "We are building our capabilities in compelling high growth areas such as digital and social media, public affairs and research, and our new teammates have the right experience and expertise to help us deliver strong results," he added.

Dahm will help lead Sloane's public affairs practice while building the firm's strategic research capability. Previously, she advised corporations, industry associations and nonprofit organizations on corporate messaging at Maslanky and Partners.

Meanwhile, Shippee's role is to drive Sloane's burgeoning digital and social media business while assisting current clients in managing their digital corporate profiles. Prior to Sloane, he was a digital marketing manager at Peppercomm guiding financial services, B2B and consumer clients on the integration of digital marketing capabilities.

The focus for Marose is on Sloane's asset management, activism, restructuring, and critical issues and transactions. He joins the team from Edelman's financial communications and capital markets practice where he advised clients' senior management teams on reputation building, regulatory matters and special situations.

Previously, Warren was at Bliss Integrated Communication, where she developed thought leadership, executive positioning, external communications and content marketing initiatives. She will play a similar role serving at Sloane.

Peters joined Sloane in 2012 and has been advising public and private companies in the healthcare, technology, media and retail sectors on corporate positioning, thought leadership and issues management. Kouvaras joined the firm in 2015 and is focused on corporate public relations, thought leadership and content development strategy.

Clay said the firm's growth is increasingly requiring them to move beyond strategy and media relations execution — which traditionally represented the core of Sloane's expertise — into delivering messaging counsel, social and digital capabilities, content creation and distribution. Those needs, he added, are most visible in key sectors such as healthcare, financial serves, energy and TMT.