Grant Design Collaborative promotes Matt DeFrain to the position of associative creative director. DeFrain joined the Atlanta firm in 2000 as a senior designer, after a five-year stint at Vortex Communications.

Kevin Burford joins Falk Harrison Creative as vice president, business development. Burford brings to the St. Louis MO firm over 15 years' of experience in strategic communications, marketing and business development from posts at Language Solutions and Opinions Incorporated.

The Republik names Ryan Cuthriell to the position of lieutenant, interactive ops, a title equivalent to that of senior interactive designer. The East Carolina University graduate worked at Ulanguzi Creative Strategies before joining the Durham NC advertising agency.

As the newly appointed art director and production manager at Kellogg Media Group, Jeff Weiser will oversee all of the company's print publications, custom publishing projects and collateral material. Weiser, a University of Nebraska at Lincoln grad, previously worked at Randy's Ring & Pinion and, before that, at Kellogg Media, where he served as marketing designer for What's On, The Las Vegas Guide.

Congrats, Felice D'Addario. D'Addario is the new associate creative director at DM2, a full-service branding agency based in Edgewater NJ. He previously served as a senior designer at Philips Electronics. D'Addario will be responsible for the overall direction of DM2's creative work.

Phil Johnson, chief operating officer and 20-year veteran of Colle+McVoy, was named 2007 Marketer of the Year by the National Agri-Marketing Association, the premier organization for marketing professionals serving U.S. agri-businesses. The award recognizes outstanding achievements in marketing to agricultural audiences.

Jaime Zambrana and Rachel Leibson both joined G2 Branding & Design as creative directors. Zambrana, who will handle lead creative duties for G2's Absolut business, comes to the firm from Ryan Partnership. He previously worked at The Guild Group, Banker's Trust and Zambrana Design. Leibson previously worked at Publicis New York, Kraftworks and Ziccardi Partners Frierson + Mee, among other firms. She will be lead creative for G2's Tishman Speyer account.

Paul Mitcham was recently promoted to the post of director of marketing and sales support at Yupo Corporation America. Mitcham joined the global leader in synthetic paper manufacturing seven years ago. Most recently, he served the Chesapeake VA company as national marketing manager.

Edge Creative welcomes Vice President of Creative David Hershey. Hershey joins the broadcast design shop — which just relocated to new headquarters in Burbank CA — from CBS Television Stations in Dallas, where he was a director of creative services for two stations.

Marcus Merritt joins Lorenc+Yoo Design as a principal. After 36 years in the business, the veteran designer has accumulated a diverse portfolio. Highlights include signage for The Home Depot Store Support Center in Atlanta. L+Y is based in Roswell GA.

Trained Eye Graphics artist Barry Barnes, an American Graphic Design Award-winner for each of the last three years, had four digital illustrations picked for inclusion in the recently published art book, Aphrodisia 2: Art of the Female Form (Arista Publishing).