Sparkpr Launches Strategic Growth Initiative with Six Senior Hires, New Service Offerings and Office Expansion

SAN FRANCISCO, March 27, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Sparkpr, one of the largest independent media relations and digital services agencies in the world, today announced the appointment of six prominent executives within its New York and San Francisco offices who are leading new practice areas and further diversifying Sparkpr's service offerings. In addition, Sparkpr's New York team has relocated to a larger office to accommodate the rapid growth.

Sparkpr has hired and promoted the following executives to take the helm of new practice or service areas in the New York office:

• Jay Kolbe, Managing Director, Digital Ad/Marketing: Kolbe has recently been promoted to Managing Director to lead Sparkpr's rapidly growing Digital Ad/Marketing practice group, which clients include Casale Media, IZEA, Kontera, OneSpot and ReactX and WebSpectator. He brings 15 years experience in the sector and previously founded Weber Shandwick's Ad Marketing division where he worked with companies like Adap.TV, Gannett Digital Media Network, StumbleUpon and Verisign and Tribal Fusion.
• Gregory Papajohn, Managing Director, Financial Tech & Social Innovation: Papajohn leads this newly established practice group, where he is responsible for engaging audiences and creating opportunities for businesses at the intersection of finance, technology and societal change. He joins Sparkpr from GolinHarris, where he led the New York office's Corporate Practice and Social Impact group. His clients included AccuWeather, Digicel, Discover Student Loans, JetBlue, and Santander Bank among others. Prior to GolinHarris, he was a senior vice president with Emanate and co-directed the Bank of America relationship. Earlier in his career, he held in-house roles as director of communications for The American Express Company and Mastercard Worldwide.
• Linda Chung, Director, Broadcast Relations: Chung joins Sparkpr as its director of cross-agency broadcast relations. She is responsible for driving executive visibility programs and supporting strategic media relations across Sparkpr's base of clients. Before joining Spark, Chung served for three years as the segment producer for CNBC's "Closing Bell with Maria Bartiromo". She has over 13 years of journalism experience and was previously a producer at Fox Business and Bloomberg.

In San Francisco, new practice areas have recently launched with the hiring of the following executives:

• Tim Donovan, Managing Director, Enterprise Tech: Donovan brings over 25 years of successful corporate communications and brand strategy experience, having led B2B and B2C technology teams at award-winning PR agencies within Silicon Valley. At Sparkpr his current account responsibilities include Blackboard, Collibra, Giant Pixel, Gigas, Mimosa Networks and Underwriters Laboratories. Previously, Tim launched dozens of technology products both domestically and internationally for industry-leading companies including Agfa, Ascend Communications, Digital Equipment Corporation, Indigo, Iomega, and UTStarcom, Wang Laboratories, and Zhone Technologies.
• Yvette Lorenz-Machlan, Managing Director, Consumer Tech: Machlan joins Sparkpr with 18 years experience in PR, working with emerging start-ups as well as large public companies. She works with a broad range of tech and consumer companies including Blackboard Fujitsu, Rdio, SocialRadar and more. Most recently she was senior vice president of the consumer practice at H30 Communications, sister agency of Atomic PR, where she worked with companies such as Automatic, Bertazzoni, and Moonbot Studios.
• Remi Adams, Managing Director, Health & Wellness: Adams leads this new practice group providing strategic counsel to companies that cover an expansive range of health, medical and fitness-related products, services and technologies. She currently works with companies that include Centrillion Biosciences, EC Forum, Kinsa and Domus Development. In addition to her private practice she previously held roles at Jawbone where she was the Director of Corporate Communications and as Director of Communications at Homestead Technologies.

"Since our inception in 1999, Sparkpr has been widely recognized as an exceptional technology PR agency with deep roots in Silicon Valley," commented Alan Soucy, chief executive officer of Sparkpr. "With the addition of six highly experienced executives supplementing a remarkable team of public relations professionals Spark's employees from coast to coast, we are well positioned to expand our offerings and value to clients."

Sparkpr's strategic hires and expanded offerings will further the company's continuous success. The independent agency has seen steady growth year over year for the last 14 years and aims to continue this success into 2014.

About Sparkpr
Sparkpr, founded in 1999, is one of the largest independent technology media relations and digital service agencies in the world. Named Technology Agency of the Year in 2012 by Holmes Report, Sparkpr has represented hundreds of companies from stealth start-ups to Fortune 500 global public companies. The agency has been ranked as one of the nation's Top 50 public relations agencies by PRWeek and O'Dywers, one of the fastest growing privately held companies for three years in a row by Inc. Magazine, and as one of the Bay Area's "Best Places to Work" by The San Francisco Business Times (2010, 2011 and 2012). For more information, visit www.sparkpr.com.

Notes To Editors

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