French/West/Vaughan (FWV), one of the nation’s 20 largest independently-held public relations and integrated marketing agencies, today announced four new account service hires, including two recent graduates of the agency’s inaugural apprenticeship class.
Hollyn Page joins FWV as a Senior Account Executive from Sweeney in Wilmington, N.C., where she focused on strategic public relations and media campaigns for both business-to-business and business-to-consumer clients across industries such as financial services and smart home lighting. She also served as a part-time faculty member at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington during the spring 2020 semester, teaching a class in the communication department. Hollyn graduated from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, with a master’s degree in communication information and earned her bachelor’s degree in public relations from Radford University.
Emily Brice will serve as an Account Executive, coming to FWV from Weber Shandwick in New York where she managed media and public relations campaign initiatives for pharmaceutical clients in the neurology, oncology and ophthalmology industries. Most of her professional career has focused on health care, servicing clients like Novartis, Amgen and Genentech with FDA milestones and integrated public relations campaigns. She is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a bachelor’s degree in media and journalism.
FWV welcomes Katie Forbidussi and Lauren French as Account Coordinators, hired upon their successful completion of the summer apprenticeship program. The program was the first of its kind for the agency, designed to help spring 2020 graduates facing an uncertain job market and prepare them for careers in the public relations/advertising industry.
Katiewill serve as an Account Coordinator on the Travel and Tourism team. In her previous apprenticeship and internship roles, she gained experience in public relations, social media and general account service working on content creation, media relations, reporting and more. She is a 2020 graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, earning a bachelor’s degree in media and journalism with a concentration in advertising.
Lauren joins the Sports and Entertainment team as an Account Coordinator. She held previous internship positions with the Carolina Hurricanes, North Carolina State University Athletics and Durham Bulls, where she gained experience in public relations, sports marketing and promotions. She is a 2020 graduate of North Carolina State University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in sport management.
“We are pleased to welcome these talented marketing professionals to FWV, which continues to grow its headcount and year-over-year revenue, despite these uncertain times,” said Rick French, Chairman & CEO. “Their collective experience, knowledge and capabilities will be an agency asset and continue to enhance the quality of services we provide our clients.”
Headquartered in Raleigh, FWV has offices in New York, Tampa, Los Angeles and the Greater Boston area. Since its founding in 1997, FWV has amassed more than 1,100 PR, advertising and digital marketing awards on behalf of a blue-chip client roster and has now been named National Agency of the Year 20 times.
