Don Bartholomew joined Ketchum as SVP of digital and social media research yesterday. Bartholomew was most recently at Fleishman-Hillard’s Washington D.C. office where he managed integrated digital research like social media monitoring and measurement.

In this new role, he’ll manage the Ketchum Global Research Network (KGRN) operations in Ketchum South and Ketchum Midwest, and work with Ketchum Digital, Zócalo Group, the company’s word-of-mouth agency, and Access Communications, which specializes in high-tech and consumer PR.

Bartholomew is also the blogger behind MetricsMan.

The U.S. Farmers & Ranchers Alliance is hosting four town hall meetings in four different cities today to talk to the public about how food is produced and the health impact of the food that members of the alliance grow and raise.

“The Food Dialogues” are taking place in New York, Washington D.C., at the University of California, Davis, and Fair Oaks, IN. If you can’t make it to one of those four locations, you can also participate online here, on Facebook, and on Twitter with the hashtag #FoodD or @USFRA.

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According to a study by the Hilton Garden Inn (with help from the Ketchum Global Research Network), 69 percent of people have a list of life’s things to do, and 83 percent say that travel tops that list. Achieving a professional goal (61 percent) and volunteering for a cause (59 percent) were the second and third most popular items on the to do list.

Hilton Garden Inn conducted the survey in conjunction with a contest that will give a grand prize trip — 3 days/2 nights — to the winner and a guest to the destination of their choice. Entrants can go to the hotel chain’s Facebook page and tell the company about their “ultimate to-do list” for a chance to win.

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