Sabrina Guttman has been named U.S. deputy technology practice chair at Burson-Marsteller based in San Francisco and reporting to Jim Goldman, the U.S. chair for the firm’s tech practice.

Guttman had previously worked in the Burson tech group as a director from 2005 to 2007. Most recently, she was at Ruder Finn, where she spent a few months at the leader of the firm’s new tech and innovation practice. It was announced just a couple of weeks ago that she’d left the firm. Ruder Finn will be seeking a replacement.

She has also previously worked at Axicom U.S. where she served as a strategic counselor to Dell’s VP of global comms. During her 15-year career, Guttman also worked with tech companies including HP and Sun Microsystems.

Lisa Poulson has been named Burson-Marsteller‘s global tech practice chair. She’ll remain in San Francisco reporting to CEO Mark Penn. Poulson rejoined the firm in 2005 after working for Sun Microsystems and had been the lead on the HP client. The four regional leads are Jackie Price, MD of the technology and media practices for Asia-Pacific; Guido Gaona, innovation and tech practice chair in Latin America; Chris Cartwright, EMEA technology practice chair; and Jim Goldman, U.S. technology practice chair.

PepsiCo is making changes to its marketing department. Jill Beraud, CMO of PepsiCo Beverages America is leaving amid the changes. Three new positions, two external and one internal, will assume her responsibilities. Brad Jakeman, previously VP and CMO at Activision Blizzard, will now be the international head marketer of Pepsi’s trademark for Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, and Pepsi Max. The two other execs have yet to be announced. [via Ad Age]

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The backlash against Burson-Marsteller‘s botched media campaign for Facebook continues today with commenters piling on negative responses (in a variety of languages) on the firm’s Facebook page. Appropriate.

Comments not only express acrimony over the effort against Google, but also about news reported on Wired.com that a negative comment posted on Burson’s Facebook page had been deleted. According to a spokesperson who talked with Wired, the post will be put back and the page has received “a lot of profanity.”

The question now is how long the backlash will continue and who it will impact. Burson is an award-winning firm with lots of top international clients (including some controversial clients). But this episode has really angered a lot of people, including many in PR, largely because of how it reflects on the entire industry.

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The news that Burson-Marsteller/Facebook whisper campaign story unfolded before our eyes this week. And as it did, there were so many details that added so many layers that reaction, understandably, has been tremendous.

At this point, Facebook and Burson are no longer working together, The New York Times reports. And, The Daily Beast writes (h/t to PRWeek) that  the two Burson publicists that handled the campaign, former CNBC reporter Jim Goldman and former political writer John Mercurio, will receive another copy of the firm’s code of ethics (along with everyone at the firm) in order to get a refresher course on right and wrong. Interesting that two former reporters couldn’t clearly see the impropriety of this from the beginning, but we digress.

Reaction from the PR industry has been both critical and exasperated, with many on Twitter expressing a “you know better than that” tone with both the situation and Burson’s statement in response.

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News broke last night on The Daily Beast that the client behind Burson-Marsteller‘s bungled Google “whisper campaign” was Facebook. A Facebook spokesperson confirmed the social network hired B-M;  The Daily Beast writer Dan Lyons says that B-M refused to say until Facebook confirmed the information.

A statement PRNewser received via email from B-M this morning reads:

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USA Today reported this morning on a “whisper campaign” launched by Burson-Marsteller on behalf of an unnamed client that targeted Google’s Social Circle feature for Gmail. (The USA Today article and this one from Business Insider has a bit of detail about the feature, which taps into your info to make “social connections.”)

Citing consumer privacy concerns and Google’s issues with the Federal Trade Commission, two of Burson’s high-profile publicists — former CNBC anchor Jim Goldman and former political columnist John Mercurio — sent a pitch to reporters suggesting an op-ed slamming Google. One of those pitched reporters, Christopher Soghoian, a former FTC researcher and blogger, posted the pitch online. And, actually, according to the email, Mercurio said, “I’m happy to help place the op-ed and assist in the drafting, if needed. For media targets, I was thinking about the Washington Post, Politico, The Hill, Roll Call or the Huffington Post.”

USA Today says Goldman was in contact with them about the story. And the paper writes, “After Goldman’s pitch proved largely untrue, he subsequently declined USA TODAY’s requests for comment.”

We were in touch with the firm to find out if this is standard practice and how the firm will address the obvious ethical issues this situation raises. We received this statement from the firm: “The situation that led to the USA Today story is highly unusual and does not represent standard practice at Burson-Marsteller. We regret that it was not handled well and we are reviewing it thoroughly.”

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Burson-Marsteller has named Cheryl Heinonen and Nathan Ballard co-market leaders for Northern California. They will be responsible for leading the San Francisco team and growing the B-M business in that area. Ballard, MD in the media practice and the issues and crisis group, and Heinonen, MD of the US corporate practice, will retain those roles as well. Jennifer Graham Clary, who served as interim market leader, will continue as global technology practice chair. Both execs joined the firm in early 2010. They will report to the firm’s US president and CEO Patrick Ford.

Jim Goldman, CNBC’s Silicon Valley bureau chief since 2003, left the network in early July to join Burson-Marsteller as U.S. Technology Practice Chair in the agency’s San Francisco Office.

PRNewser spoke to Goldman this week, in his first extensive interview since joining Burson-Marsteller. Read on for Goldman’s thoughts about covering Apple — “they are maniacal about controlling the message” — and what he is looking forward to in his new role: “I get to now move from the front row to back stage.”

How has the transition been so far?

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TVNewser reports that Jim Goldman, CNBC’s Silicon Valley bureau chief since 2003, is leaving the network. Goldman, a 21-year technology reporting veteran, is joining Burson-Marsteller as a VP in their San Francisco office.

The business news channel has already found a new correspondent to cover the technology beat. Full story at TVNewser.

UPDATE: Official release from Burson-Marsteller after the jump.

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