Qorvis’ Expanding Business Demands Additional Talent

New Hires Span Multiple Disciplines

WASHINGTON, Sept. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Qorvis Communications, one of the fastest-growing integrated communications firms in the U.S., today announced recent hires who enhance company expertise across multiple communications platforms and disciplines, serving expanding client needs and establishing a base for further client growth. Qorvis welcomed 12 employees in the first half of 2010 and the firm continues to seek qualified individuals for additional openings.

"Based on our track record of superior client service, Qorvis is expanding into new client sectors to meet the growing demand for integrated communications solutions," said Qorvis' Managing Partner Michael Petruzzello. "We're excited to welcome talented individuals who will help us continue to deliver innovative solutions to our clients' communications challenges and build on our ever-expanding list of international, government, public relations and interactive clients."

Qorvis welcomes the following new hires:

• Managing Director Michael Hillegassjoins Qorvis topilot its new government contract business development. Mike has more than 10 years experience in business development and business strategy in the public, private and military sectors. He is experienced in developing, positioning and selling solutions directly and through strategic teaming relationships.

• Senior Director Jessica Bayer leads Qorvis' staffing and recruiting efforts and is focused on bringing the industry's best talent to the company to enhance current and future client teams. Prior to joining Qorvis, Jessica spent three years as a senior recruiter for Burson-Marsteller's Washington, D.C. office where she shortened hiring cycles, significantly improved the volume of qualified candidates and made strategic senior hires.

• Director Rebecca Bou Chebel has extensive international experience, especially in the Middle East, including stints in Baghdad and Doha, Qatar. She brings a broad set of strategic communications skills from her work as a CNN producer and USAID public affairs officer in Baghdad. In Qatar, she was a PR manager and event planner who worked on the Doha 2006 Asian Games and then served as a media relations officer to the First Lady of Qatar, Her Highness Sheikha Mozah. Rebecca joins Qorvis after several years at RAND Corp., most recently in Washington, D.C., where she became a senior project associate after working for RAND in Baghdad as a strategic communications adviser.

• Director Katie Barr returns to Qorvis with experience from a full-service media firm, specializing in multimedia and strategic communications. Katie brings her expertise on progressive, nonprofit and corporate campaigns to Qorvis public affairs clients such Open Internet Coalition, No Choke Points Coalition and Sprint.

• Senior AssociateLaura Woods specializes in search engine optimization and web implementation strategies. She currently works on Reznick Group, the Union Labor Life Insurance Company, Sourcefire and the Virginia Lottery.

• Senior AssociateRobel Kassa specializes in front-end web development and is working on George Washington's Mount Vernon Estate and Gardens, the Society for Human Resource Management and Reznick Group.

• Senior AssociateRyan Pittman specializes in web development for clients including Sourcefire, Reznick Group and Ullico.

• Associate Maria Abad brings a diverse communications background and trilingual skills (English, Spanish and German) to her media and public relations, marketing communications and sovereign clients, including Bloomberg Businessweek, the Horatio Alger Association, the Republic of Cyprus and the Republic of Equatorial Guinea.

• Associate Nasreen Qureshi supports a range of interactive and print projects for the Qorvis creative team and has applied her design skills to projects for a number of clients including Sprint, Google and Finmeccanica.

• Associate Megan Kirkpatrick joins the Pratt & Whitney and Adobe client teams, in addition to her support of online reputation management and advocacy clients.

• Associate Kaitlin Vignali specializes in web analytics, sitemap production and search engine optimization for a range of clients.

• Associate Analyst Michael Hutshneker joins Qorvis' research arm, the Clarus Research Group, to manage databases, member surveys (development and execution) and maintenance of the Clarus Research Group website.

About Qorvis Communications, LLC
Qorvis Communications is one of the nation's largest independent, integrated communications firms. Formed in August 2000 and celebrating its 10-year anniversary, Qorvis provides its clients with expertise in the areas of public relations and media relations, advertising, public affairs, investor relations and financial services communications, grassroots campaigns, interactive communications, web design, social media strategies, and research and opinion surveys. For more information, visit www.qorvis.com, contact info@qorvis.com or follow @qorvis on Twitter.

SOURCE Qorvis Communications