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Haig Bedrossian

haig bedrossian
Boston MA: Ploom is the new studio of award-winning designer and brand strategist Haig Bedrossian. Before founding Ploom, he worked as a design director for Hatmaker and Razorfish, as art director for Bravo Canada and as designer at Interbrand. He has worked on such high-profile brands as Upromise, Oxygen, Truth Consulting and Powderhouse. Dubbing the firm's style as "plooming," Bedrossian describes it as "a synthesis of different approaches by mixing/crossing/ experimenting disciplines ... to create unconventional design solutions." He offers ploom.com itself as an example of the "sophistication, humor and visual sense" offered by Ploom.

Kevin Teevens

Jack Crifasi

kevin teevens, jack crifasi
Detroit MI: The team of Kevin Teevens and Jack Crifasi, copywriter and art director, respectively - and People To Watch in last year's Graphic Design usa special - have moved together to become partners at J. Walter Thompson. Previously with JWT, the twosome returns to the Detroit office after a number of years working with small shops in the Philadelphia area, including several years at Stoner Bunting Advertising. Both are now working on the Ford account. JWT Detroit is the largest office in the agency's network, serving White Castle, Domino's Pizza and Shell, in addition to Ford.

Haydn Morris

haydn morris
New York NY: 18 year creative veteran Haydn Morris joins G2 Worldwide as a partner. Morris reports to Andrew Kibble, creative director, G2 Worldwide, New York. Morris began his career at Saatchi & Saatchi, London, as art director, and has held creative posts over the years at BMP DDB Needham, London, McCann Erickson, Rome, Saatchi & Saatchi, Auckland, and Young & Rubicam, Auckland. He has also headed his own agency, Haydn Morris Advertising, in Rome, where clients included McDonalds and Bulgari. The announcement was made by G2 president Steven Gilliatt.

Jill Wittnebel

jill wittnebel
New York NY: Project director Jill Wittnebel is charged with client care, ensuring the integrity of the design process and new business development at Carbone Smolan Agency. She was previously a project director at Gensler Studio 585, and is a University of Texas graduate.

Michael Kunhenn

michael kunhenn
Fort Lauderdale FL: Starmark International appoints Michael Kunhenn to the newly created position of senior art director. A native of Germany, he brings more than a decade of experience in graphic design and creative direction to his new post, having worked at Interbrand New York and the Berlin-based Scholz & Friends, a Bates Worldwide Company and the largest agency in Germany. At Interbrand, he was a senior designer whose clients included BMW Financial Services, Nationwide, First USA and Bank One. At Scholz & Friends, he did work for the Frankfurt Trade Fair, the Federation of German Banks and Germany's largest newspaper, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Kunhenn reports to Starmark executive creative director Ernie Cox, who says "we're really building something special here."

Sharon Osen

sharon osen
New York NY: Desgrippes Gobé adds Sharon Osen to their senior management team. Osen will serves as principal and vice president of brand strategy for the firm. She possesses significant corporate creative experience, having held other senior positions at Siegel & Gale and NickandPaul. For over a decade, she worked in brand strategy and global business development for the Colgate Palmolive Company. Osen is a Cornell graduate and earned a M.B.A. from Columbia University.

Kaypee Soh

kaypee soh
Philadelphia PA: 160over90 invites Kaypee Soh to become a senior designer. Soh has a distinguished track record, beginning his career at Pentagram in London before moving on to firms in Malaysia, Toronto and New York. He was most recently a senior designer at Giant Step in New York. Soh has executed print and web projects for the likes of American Express, Levi's, MTV, IBM, Cadillac, Altria and L'Oreal USA.

Lesley West

lesley west
Tucson AZ: Lesley West did not have to go far to find a graphic design job. After graduating with a BFA from the University of Arizona School of Art, she walked on down to Tucson-based Boelts/Stratford Associates to join the design team.

Masha Safavi Hansen

masha safavi hansen
Minneapolis MN: Jay Miller, president and creative director of IMAGEHAUS names Masha Safavi Hansen as senior graphic designer. Hansen comes from Germany, where she was a senior designer at Peter Schmidt Studios. Previously, she worked at Jill Sander in Italy, Louis Fili in New York and Promar Advertising in Hamburg. She asserts that her new firm has a global approach "which is similar to a European design studio from an aesthetic standpoint. Their design feels more global." Hansen is currently working on the Wilsons Leather, Target and Schmidty's accounts. The firm's accounts also include Larson Boats, Urban Retreat, Pagoda, Solar Planet and Human Rights Campaign.

ted leonhardt
San Francisco CA: Anthem Group, a strategic brand and packaging design consultancy owned by Schawk, Inc., names Ted Leonhardt as global president. Leonhardt is best known as the founder of The Leonhardt Group, a brand design consultancy which at the time of its acquisition by Cordiant Communications in 2000 had a staff of 50 and was billing $10 million annually. Tapped by new ownership to join the transition team, Leonhardt then moved to Europe as chief creative officer/global of Fitch: Worldwide, Cordiant's brand design consultancy.

jeff griffith
Beverly Hills CA: The First Annual International Photographers Awards Show recently honored Jeff Griffith as Art Director of the Year. He was selected by a panel of leading photographers. Griffith was the cofounder and art director of Atomic Magazine, a self-described "essential guide to retro culture." The magazine ended publication last August. During its five years of business, Atomic Magazine editorial designs received awards from the Society of Publication Designers as well as glowing reviews from the Boston Globe, Gear Magazine, New York Newsday and others. Griffith is currently freelancing.

nick smith
St. Louis MO: Recent Southwest Missouri State University graduate Nick Smith climbs into Sandbox as a graphic artist. He is responsible for design concepts and layout for current and new clients.

barbara raab sgouros
Washington DC: Blattner Brunner recruits Barbara Raab Sgouros to be the creative director of the ad agency's new Washington DC office. In this post, she is responsible for all accounts there, including Time Warner, Microsoft, Nextel, George Washington University and TallyGenicom. Sgouros' previous experience includes stints as president of the marketing consultancy 2Direct Women and as creative director at Loughlin Creative and RTC Direct. She holds a BFA in graphic design from Carnegie Mellon University, and attended Kent State's postgraduate design program in Florence.

shell blevins
Santa Monica CA: After years of working with the firm on a freelance basis, Shell Blevins joins Fuel as a designer/ animator. A Baltimore native, Blevins studied film in college. After graduating, however, he turned to animation and worked for Short Cinema Journal Magazine.

Bill Gregory

Frank DeRosa

bill gregory, frank derosa
Burlington VT: This winter saw several new hires at Jager Di Paola Kemp Design. Key among them: Bill Gregory is now responsible for creating brand design strategies for JDK, working closely with brand strategist Sascha Mayer. Prior to joining the Vermont firm, Gregory had his own brand strategy practice in the Boston area and, before that, he was at Wieden + Kennedy working on the Amazon.com and Miller Brewing accounts. He has also worked at McCann Erickson in its San Francisco office. Slightly earlier in the winter, Frank DeRosa came aboard as a web developer/animator. He was most recently with Five Star Development, a web design firm in Pittsburgh. DeRosa has an associate's degree from Pennsylvania's Keystone College.

stephanie dibiase
Cleveland OH: Public relations and investor relations counsel Edward Howard & Co. has a new graphic designer. Stephanie DiBiase joins the six-person design team. While she has a specialization in internet applications, she will also provide print and other multimedia services. DiBiase has been a freelance designer in Cleveland, and she once had an internship at Jim Henson Company in New York.

david b. gray
North Kingstown RI: After more than 25 years of service, the executive director of the Society for News Design (SND), David B. Gray, is set to retire. A co-founder of the organization, Gray has been a board member since its inception. In 1996, after 18 years of volunteer participation, he was appointed to the executive director position. Before that, Gray worked at The Providence Journal of Providence RI for 28 years, advancing to the position of managing editor/ technology. He retired from the newspaper to join SND's senior staff, and to serve its 2,700 international members.

mika owens, christine wisnieski
Cleveland OH: SCK Design expands its staff with two new hires. Mika Owens and Christine Wisnieski have been brought on, both as graphic designers specializing in print and web projects. SCK Design is a web development and graphic design firm located in the Tremont area of Cleveland. It specializes in web design and custom software applications, corporate communications and identities, signage and environmental design.

ann patros
Neenah WI: Ann Patros is being welcomed by Directions Incorporated as a senior graphic artist in the marketing and advertising group. For the past eight years of a 17 year career, Patros has worked as a freelance graphic designer. She has an associate degree in commercial art from Western Wisconsin Technical College.

daniel d. king
Sun Prairie WI: Daniel King has been in the paper industry for more than 30 years, having risen to the top spots at both Fox River Paper and Wausau Paper. Now King has been named president and a member of the board of directors of CTI Paper USA. He succeeds Brian Cowie as president, who continues as ceo and chairman of the board. Cowie states: "We are more than excited to have Dan join our organization. His experience, organizational skills and manufacturing background are exactly what CTI needs at this time of rapid growth and expansion."

barbara armstrong boccio
Long Island NY: Barbara Armstrong Boccio, principal and creative director of Boccio Design Group Ltd., was recently a panelist on the Long Island Business News Women's Symposium. The focus of the event was on addressing the challenges of creating a life that works, from a professional women's points of view. This theme was explored through a series of panel discussions. The Boccio graphic design and marketing communications firm was founded in 1987.

david c. hurley
New Canaan CT: The new chairman of the board of advisors at Paper.com is David Hurley. In this role, Hurley will advise the ecommerce site's senior management team, leveraging his background working with emerging enterprises. In addition to Paper.com, Hurley continues as vice chairman of PrivatAire, an international business aviation group, and serves on the boards of several other companies and nonprofit organizations.

kevin penland Boulder CO:
Kevin Penland returns to Communication Arts, Inc., after a year abroad. He originally joined the multidisciplinary design firm in 1998, and in 2001 was awarded an Eames Fellowship, a grant program funded by CommArts which allows qualified employees the opportunity of international study. Having completed his studies, Penland is taking up the post of designer at the firm. Penland is a cum laude graduate of Colorado State University, and studied at the University of Colorado in Greeley. Past projects for CommArts have included environmental graphic design for Disney's Grand California Hotel and the Sprint World Headquarters.

mary wagner
Chicago IL: Freelance graphic designer Mary Wagner has been elected recording secretary for 2004 by the Chicago Creative Coalition (C3). The organization is a non-profit dedicated to supporting the professional growth of creatives in communication arts.

christopher quereau Oneonta
NY: One year in the graphic design business is an important milestone, and Christopher Quereau is celebrating that success as owner of GraftiQa Graphic Design in this small upstate college town. He had previously worked at Avrett, Free & Ginsberg Advertising and Courtney & Company before setting out on his own. Over the years, Quereau's projects have included work for Liz Claiborne, Gloria Vanderbilt and Bassett Healthcare.

steve donatelli, steve powell, diane stewart
Portland OR: Identity-driven brand designers ID add three new hires. Steve Donatelli is an associate creative director who has worked on projects over the years for Nike, Hewlett Packard, Sony-Ericksson, Pepsi Cola, Mitsubishi Motors and World Trade Center Associates. Steve Powell becomes lead production designer in charge of print, environmental and retail design and new media. He has held production spots at Nike and Barclays Global Investors, as well as Foote, Cone & Belding, Saatchi & Saatchi and Hal Riney & Partners. Diane Stewart is operations director, a newly formed post. She comes over from Alloy Red Advertising, where she was general manager.

dave miller Seattle
WA: Phinney/Bischoff Design House director of brand strategy Dave Miller has been named to the Fred Hutchinson Business Alliance. The regional group of business leaders helps fight cancer by supporting the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, a nonprofit research institution. "Cancer affects all of us," says Miller, "including one in three family members, friends and co-workers. It also costs U.S. business billions of dollars annually. This represents a tremendous human and financial toll..."