Edelman PR announced this week that Ruth Edelman will serve as deputy chairman of parent company DJE Holdings following the January passing of her husband, company founder Daniel J. Edelman. This will be a non-executive role; Edelman will provide counsel to both clients and executives while also hosting agency-sponsored events. A new non-executive DJE chairman will be chosen from outside the company in due course. (Release)

360 Public Relations announced the addition of Meredith Gandy as senior publicist in the agency’s growing New York office. Gandy previously served as Senior Publicist at KQED, the Bay Area’s PBS station. She garnered attention for prime-time, nationally acclaimed programming, such as “Saving the Bay” and ” China From the Inside.”  Most recently at KQED, Gandy supervised national efforts for the top-rated PBS KIDS program, “The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That!” Gandy will contribute to clients based in 360PR’s New York and Boston offices. (Release)

We Are Social filled a pair of important new roles within its New York office.

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Weber Shandwick announced that Cori Ashford has joined the agency as a senior vice president in the firm’s global Healthcare practice. Previously employed with the Chandler Chicco Agency, Ashford will be based in Chicago. Ashford joins the firm with more than a dozen years of experience managing global pharmaceutical accounts in disease areas such as oncology, cardiology, metabolic and autoimmune diseases, among others. Her past experience includes strategic counsel, issues management, data communications, regulatory milestones, national and international brand launches and consumer campaigns. Over the course of her career, she led the agency team responsible for global and U.S. communications activities for Bristol-Myers Squibb’s rheumatoid arthritis medication Orencia, spanning the pre-launch, launch and lifecycle management phases for this treatment. (Release)

McGrath/Power Public Relations and Communications has named Christina Armstrong VP of client service. Armstrong was previously MD of the b-to-b technology practice at Grayling Connecting Point. She has also worked as client services director at Phase Two Strategies in San Francisco. In her new role, she will work in conjunction with Kathryn Walker, SVP and partner, to provide program leadership and strategy for the agency’s client base. (PR Week)

Global Strategy Group hired Bill Burton as EVP and MD of its DC office. Burton previously served as co-founder and senior strategist at Priorities USA Action, a super PAC that worked to re-elect President Barack Obama to a second term in office. He served as national press secretary for the 2008 Obama for America campaign, then as deputy White House press secretary and special assistant to the president. Burton also worked as then-Rep. Rahm Emmanuel’s (D-IL) communications director at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee during the 2006 electoral cycle. (PRWeek)

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Cerebrus Capital Management describes itself as “one of the world’s leading private investment firms”. The group frequently works with top PR firm Weber Shandwick. Cerebrus also owns Freedom Group, a holding company that includes the gunmaker Bushmaster (the same company that manufactured the weapon used in last week’s horrific Newtown, Connecticut shooting).

Today brings news that Cerebrus plans to sell all assets in Freedom Group in a coordinated act of damage control. We have reason to believe that Weber Shandwick advised Cerebrus to take this route, and we have to say that it was a very good decision.

Private equity firms generally don’t rely too much on public opinion, but pressure to act began building as soon as the public learned of Cerebrus’s significant stake in the nation’s largest gun manufacturer. See, quite a few Americans nursed pension funds directly tied to a company that makes semi-automatic rifles—and they didn’t even know it.

While this move will almost certainly cause Cerebrus to lose money in the short term (let’s not forget the massive profit margins enjoyed by companies that make weapons), we still feel like it’s the right decision, because continued ties to the Freedom Group could discourage future investors.

Cerebrus’s official statement on the matter reads: “We believe that this decision allows us to meet our obligations to the investors whose interests we are entrusted to protect without being drawn into the national debate that is more properly pursued by those with the formal charter and public responsibility to do so”. Yes, we can certainly see why they wouldn’t want to be involved in that debate.

Bloomberg also notes that the father of Cerebrus founder Stephen Feinberg lives in Newtown, but let’s be honest here—it’s all about the money.

Today Bloomberg L.P. announced that PR and communications veteran Jason Schechter will join the company as chief communications officer. Schechter was formerly chairman of U.S. corporate practice at top PR firm Burson-Marsteller.

According to head of government relations and corporate communications Kevin Sheekey, Bloomberg is “re-imagining the way we communicate with our clients and stakeholders” and expanding its influence into new media markets– and the company sees Schechter and his communications experience as a key factor in this shift.

At Burson-Marsteller, Schechter provided strategic communications counsel to leading companies across diverse industries including financial services, technology, media, and professional services, while directing a team of nearly 80 communications professionals. He also worked with non-U.S. headquartered institutions looking to build global brands. Prior to his communications career, Schechter was an assistant press secretary in the Clinton White House, serving as an official spokesman to the President.

Schechter says that he looks forward to “working with the team to bring Bloomberg’s story of innovation and growth to the global marketplace.” (Release)

Today also brought news that McCormick & Company, Inc., a Fortune 1000 company specializing in spices, herbs and flavorings, has joined forces with leading global public relations firm Weber Shandwick after several years of productive partnership.

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Last week the Interpublic Group announced the promotion of PR firm Weber Shandwick‘s former president, Andy Polansky, to the position of CEO. Polanksy had served as president of Weber Shandwick since 2004; he replaced outgoing CEO Harris Diamond (who in turn became chairman and CEO of “ad agency network” McCann Worldgroup).

Polansky has worked for Shandwick and its predecessor firms in various capacities for approximately 30 years; he is a member of the Arthur W. Page Society who currently sits on the Board of Trustees for the Institute for Public Relations, and he has also served as chairman of the Council of PR Firms for the past two years.

On Friday we had the opportunity to get Polanksy’s thoughts on a changing PR industry; we’ve reprinted our exchange below.

I’ve been with Weber Shandwick and its predecessor firms for nearly 30 years, so of course the change has been quite dramatic! Over the past few years we’ve seen significant shifts in how people consume and share information. We’ve also seen a heightened focus on the changing context of go-to-market approaches, with public policy and reputation considerations now playing a larger role in how organizations shape strategies. Public relations firms increasingly play a lead role in the fast-changing environment. It’s an exciting time to be in this business.

There seems to be a consensus around social media and the data/analytics explosion exerting a great influence on the PR industry of the future. What is your take on this subject?

Social media’s rise has transformed our industry, as companies focus on new ways to engage with their customers.  Whether you’re a B2B company, dealing with a reputational issue or crisis or launching a new consumer product, social media is front and center – a nexus for everything we consider now for any type of communications program. There has been an explosion of data available to formulate insights, to inform strategy, and to create pathways to breakthrough creative thinking.

How do you see the relationship between PR, marketing and advertising changing?

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Weber Shandwick announced that Cindy Drucker has joined the agency as an executive vice president in the firm’s global Social Impact practice. Based in Washington, D.C. at Powell Tate, a division of Weber Shandwick, Drucker will serve as a strategic counselor to global organizations designing and executing corporate social responsibility and environmental sustainability strategies. Drucker has more than 20 years of experience advising and leading sustainability and environmental initiatives for private and public companies, nonprofits and government organizations. Most recently, she was the global head of sustainability at S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc. (Release)

Leo Burnett/Arc Worldwide has announced Greg Edwards as its new senior vice president and account director. In this role, he will provide support to new business and assist in building the agency’s retail practice. Mr. Edwards previously served as managing director at Chicago-based marketing agency Alfred Kato. He has more than 20 years of brand marketing experience with clients such as Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Frito Lay, Quaker and Gerber. (AdAge)

Torsten Gross has been named SVP and group planning director on the Microsoft Office business for Deutsch NY. Mr. Gross previously served as group planning director at R/GA. In that role, he oversaw accounts with Verizon Wireless and Telecom, Pfizer, AARP, PwC and Televisa. Prior to that, Mr. Gross founded and later sold consultancy FatBaby Innovation. He also spent time at BBDO NY and media agency PHD, working on brands such as Bank of America, Motorola, and The Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation. (AdAge)

Millennial Media has appointed Mollie Spilman to the newly created role of executive vice president and CMO. Ms. Spilman previously served as chief marketing officer at Yahoo. Prior to that, she was the senior vice president of B2B marketing, senior vice president of commerce and Yahoo’s head of marketing for the Americas. Before Yahoo, Ms. Spilman was chief sales & marketing officer at Advertising.com, president and CEO of Three Stage Media, and CEO of Tidal TV (now Videology). (AdAge)

Earlier this week we posted on the deal that Ogilvy PR Worldwide signed to promote the new health insurance law in the state of California.

Now we have a piece of follow-up news: The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has hired Weber Shandwick to “raise awareness” about the other state-based healthcare insurance exchanges–those that will be managed by the federal government.

Here’s the lowdown: these exchanges are essentially virtual marketplaces enabling citizens to compare and choose between competing providers’ plans, and they’re one of the central components of The Affordable Care Act, which requires states to create them by January 2013. In states that do not set up exchanges by that date, the federal government will create its own “federally facilitated” exchanges by default—and these are the exchanges to be promoted by Weber Shandwick.

Here’s the challenge: To date, only 13 states and the District of Columbia have agreed to manage their own exchanges.

This is a particularly big get for Shandwick, which was recently named PR News’s “Digital Firm of the Year” just after winning the title of “Global PR Firm of the Year” via The Holmes Report.

The future of the insurance exchange project will be interesting to say the least.

Ogilvy PR/Chicago has appointed Heather Wilson executive vice president and director of the agency’s Chicago Corporate Group. Wilson joined the company on September 17, moving from Weber Shandwick where she ran the West Coast corporate and crisis management practice in Los Angeles. In her new roll, she will focus on brand positioning, financial communication, litigation support, crisis management, government relations and media strategy to solving complex issues facing multinational corporations and crafting integrated campaigns that deliver business results. (Release)

Pete Beatty has been promoted to senior editor at Bloomsbury. He comes from Bloomsbury Press, where he’s been working with Peter Ginna since 2008. Lea Beresford, who joined Bloomsbury as editorial assistant in 2011, has been promoted to editor at the Bloomsbury imprint. (Publishers Weekly)

Maili Holiman has been named the new creative director of Sunset. Holiman comes to Sunset from the George Lucas Educational Foundation, where she had been creative director of the foundation’s magazine — Edutopia — since 2009. Prior to that she was art director at Wired and Readymade. (FishbowlNY)

Andy Sareyan, president of National Journal, is stepping down and Bruce Gottlieb is set to take his place. Gottlieb had been Senior VP of Corporate Strategy. He has also written for Slate, The Atlantic, NYT magazine, and The New Republic, and was the former Chief Counsel at the FCC. (FishbowlDC)

Angelo Lomonte has been named SVP, managing director, at KSL Media. He had been director of media strategy, marketing & advertising at Cablevision. (mb)

Ian Robinson has been named creative director at Ebony. He had been design director at Spin. (mb)

Tom Arnost has been named EVP and chief revenue officer at Telemundo Station Group. He had been on numerous boards and managed a private investment portfolio focused on the media industry. (TVSpy)

Research from Weber Shandwick and executive search firm Spencer Stuart shows that global chief comms officers now consider crisis experience a necessity for success.

According to “The Rising CCO IV,” 65 percent of CCOs said this experience was a “prerequisite for success.” That’s about twice the number of CCOs that answered that way in 2007. More than 70 percent of CCOs said their company’s reputation has been in danger at some point in the last two years.

The study also found that 40 percent of CCOs think they’re ready for a social media crisis, up from 30 percent in 2010. And 76 percent think that CSR efforts are a barrier against reputation damage.  However, North American CCOs aren’t getting their CSR messaging in order to the same degree as European and APAC CCOs are.

After the jump, we’ve got a graph of the what senior management expects from corporate comms this year.

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Weber Shandwick, Powell Tate, and KRC Research have released the results of the third annual “Civility in America: A Nationwide Survey,” finding that people believe incivility is running rampant across society, fueled by politics, government, and political campaigning.

This online survey of 1,000 Americans was conducted in April.

Nearly three quarters of respondents (71 percent) say we’ve become less civil in the last three years, and 63 percent say incivility is a “major problem.” About 80 percent say politics is uncivil and becoming more so, with 69 percent saying the rude behavior caused the breakdown of the budget talks last year.

However, both Presidential candidates were given higher marks for civil behavior over uncivil behavior. Still, more than half of respondents say they aren’t paying attention to political ads, election coverage, or politics in general because of the harsh tone.

After the jump, we’ve got an infographic with details. For more on the survey, click here.

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