Ogilvy announced the addition of Rachel Polish to its 360-degree Digital Influence Group today, with the title of VP of digital strategy. She's spearheading the division's word-of-mouth and social media efforts on the west coast, from Ogilvy's San Francisco office according to the press release.

Most PR people with digital titles also spend considerable personal time using social media, and Polish is no different. Except she does it for the military as a Coast Guard reservist, lending a hand during breaking news and crises.

Prior to Ogilvy, Polish was a senior PR manager at SanDisk.

Her first outward-facing effort was to weigh in on the New York Times "Spinning the Web" feature about Brooke Hammerling and others in tech PR, as so many have this week. See "In Defense of All Things Public Relations and Social Media" on Ogilvy's Fresh Influence blog.

[photo from Polish's Twitter profile]