Business Moves
- Ruder Finn acquires 21-year-old Paris-based Mynecom, the healthcare communications agency founded by Mina Volovitch, which will be merged with RF's Paris office. Mynecom developed a reputation for its work in AIDS, oncology and, most recently, gene therapy. (Ruder Finn, 212/593-6428)
- Christopher S. McNamara is singled out by Manning Selvage & Lee to become director of its healthcare practice in Washington, D.C. Before joining the firm, he was VP in Porter Novelli's D.C. practice. (MS&L, 202/261-2682)
- The IBM San Diego Team for e-Business, bid contenders for an upcoming $700 million-plus contract with San Diego County, hires high-tech firm McQUERTERGROUP. (McQUERTER, 619/450-0030)
- The Pittsburgh office of Ketchum marks the one-year anniversary of its Technology Practice Group. Since launching, its client roster has tripled to nine clients and its employee base also from three to nine (with one senior position open). Clients include VR Telecom and Extranetics, Inc. (Ketchum, 412/456-3445)
- Micky Long, VP of technology at Duffey Communications, Atlanta, appointed to the Atlanta/Southeast Region Y2K Solutions Center. It's a nonprofit collaboration of government, business and tech leaders massaging publics to raise interest among small and mid-sized businesses. Part of the group's philosophy is that Y2K isn't a technology issues - it's a supply-chain issue and companies have to stay on their vendors about preparedness. (Duffey, 404/266-2600)
- Marjorie Strayer, who served as director of incumbent retention for two years with the National Republican Congressional Committee, joins Powell Tate, Washington, D.C., as VP of the firm's grassroots and ally outreach practice. (Powell Tate, 202/434-8524)
New Resources
- New IR assistance from PR Newswire, which is plugging its "vIRtural IQ" as "one-stop shopping" for IR pros. The tool is a customized Web site updated with company information, stock quotes and breaking news which users can have sent through e-mail. Web pages and their features are housed and maintained by PR Newswire. (PRN, 212/282-1929)
- For a base cost of about $10,000, Hill and Knowlton provides its "Virtual Crisis." A CD-ROM-based crisis simulation using a spiraling sexual harassment case trains senior managers on how to handle a crisis. The foundation of the tutorial is H&K's expertise in coaching executives to look at crises on a multidisciplinary level.
It takes about six hours to complete the exercise. The program is designed for between 10 and 21 participants. For more information, e-mail H&K at [email protected].