People news from Publicis Dallas, Skunk and more

Publicis Dallas has hired Wes Beyrent into the new position of vice president and director of creative technology. Beyrent reports to Sally Kennedy, CEO. He joins directly from Tribal DDB/Dallas, where he was director of creative technology and user experience. During his 12-year career, Beyrent has led digital initiatives and created websites and programs for clients including: PepsiCo, Bank of America, Bud Light, Exxon Fuels, Cornell University and Playstation.









Skunk has signed director Robert Groenwold for representation throughout North America. His recent work includes the spot 'Origin' for VW through AKQA, which won an award for Cinematography at the 2011 AICP Show, and he is currently finishing post for a new Lexus campaign through Team-One. Groenwold started out in production as a PA at Palomar Pictures then moved to Boxer Films where he became the in-house editor. In 2007 he began directing spots through Boxer Films.



Brand New School has appointed Blake Huber to the position of Flame artist and lead compositor for its East Coast studio. Since 2007 he has been a VFX artist for Charlex in New York, and prior to that, he spent six years with BNS East as an animator and Flame artist. He has also taught After Effects classes at New York University.





Phenomblue, the Omaha based interactive brand experience agency, has made several new appointments. Erin Standley joins as experience director for its new Los Angeles office. Standley has provided creative direction and design for web start-ups, and worked at Goodby, Silverstein and Partners. Derek Van Horne also comes on board as experience director at the Omaha headquarters. Van Horne was most recently with Edelman Digital, where he worked on campaigns for AXE, eBay and Burger King.


Columbia, Maryland-based agency ADG Creative has made a number of new hires. They include Sean Monahan as chief technology officer, Chris Long as developer and Stash Noga as senior developer, Anthony Paul as digital strategist and Taylor Wellington as designer.