M&C Saatchi Group has made Caroline Parkes its strategy director. She will be responsible for managing the Boots and Carphone Warehouse accounts. (Source: Brand Republic)

Wieden & Kennedy Amsterdam has lost its executive creative director, Jeff Kling. He has stepped down from his post to pursue over opportunities. (Source: Brand Republic)

Chris Simpson has been hired as the first European marketing director for price comparison website Kelkoo. (Source: Brand Republic)

BT Retail has promoted David James from director of customer insight and intelligence to the role of marketing director for consumer, starting immediately. (Source: Brand Republic)

APCO has appointed former public affairs news editor Jolyon Jimble as an associate director in its Brussels office. (Brand Republic)

Simple group marketing director Alex Pike has been promoted to the newly created role of global vice president of marketing. She will be responsible for looking at brand development across Europe. (Source: Brand Republic)

Ben Pearman, UK marketing director of Birds Eye, is to leave the company to join General Mills. He spent less than three years at his former employers. (Source: Brand Republic)

Synergy, the sponsorship consultancy, has hired ex-Manchester United strategist Carsten Those as its director of consulting. (Source: Brand Republic)

Bentley motors has hired Alasdair Stewart to the role of board member for sales and marketing. Stewart starts immediately, and will be responsible for marketing and global sales. (Source: Brand Republic)

Theo Bertram, an ex-aide to both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, has been recruited by O2 to become its acting head of public affairs on a six month contract. (Source: PR Week)

Kimberley Witcomb has been appointed by Talk PR to head up its growing fashion department. She will oversee existing fashion clients, as well as growing the agency’s portfolio. (Source: PR Week)

Debra Geddes has been appointed senior director for artist publicity at EMI, overseeing all of the company’s artist publicity activities. She has worked at the music label since 1990 in a variety of roles. (Source: PR Week)

Gary Birtles will step down from his role as chief executive of UK agency Initiative, in order to take up an EMEA role at MediaBrands. (Source: Media Week)

Chris Stevens is to leave the Sun after almost 30 years at the tabloid. Stevens joined the paper in 1981 and held a variety of positions, most recently as comment editor. He will leave next month. (Source: Press Gazette)

Jason Lewis has been made investigations editor at the Sunday Telegraph. He joins from the Mail on Sunday, where he spent 16 years and won the Specialist of the Year award in the 2010 British Press Awards. (Source: journalism.co.uk)

Andy Carter has been appointed managing director of Smooth Radio. The role will be added to his responsibility as MD of GMG Radio’s north-west operations. (Source: MediaGuardian)

STV has appointed David Milne as the new executive editor of STV Local. Milne will be responsible for rolling out the STV Local network of sites across Scotland. (Source: Press Gazette)

STV has also made ex-ITV regional sales controller Peter Reilly commercial director of its operations. He replaces David Connelly, who will move to an advisory role. (Source: Brand Republic)

Johnston Press’s Chris Green is stepping down from his post as divisional managing director in the North. It appears his departure has been spurred by discussions over a proposed group reorganisation. (Source: Press Gazette)

The editor of Loaded, Matt Daubney, has stepped down from his position over the likely sale of the lads mag to Vitality. He has edited the magazine for seven years. (Source: MediaGuardian)

Adconion has bolstered its online video team with the recruitment of Daniel Ramira. He will become head of video in the UK. (Source: Brand Republic)

Stephanie Bell is to take on a regional media head role at L ‘Oreal. She resigned from her role as CEO of GroupM Thailand in July. (Source: Brand Republic)

Xavier Rees has been hired as a managing partner for DDB UK’s Virgin Media account. He will be responsible for managing the business. He was the former deputy managing director of Targetbase Claydon Heeley. (Source: Brand Republic)

Toby Courlander has been hired as an executive producer for Spank Films. The former partner at production company Outsider will also bring directors from No Brain and Anderson M Studio. (Source: Brand Republic)

Jill McDonald is to become UK chief executive of McDonald’s. She replaces Steve Easterbrook, who left his position of four years to assume a new global role at the company. (Source: Brand Republic)

The Law Society’s head of media has left to set up her own legal PR firm. Melissa Davies has left after five years to launch MD Communications. (Source: PR Week)

Simon Warr has left his role as director of communications of Jaguar Land Rover. He leaves after working there since 2007. (Source: PR Week)

Bell Pottinger Public Affairs has recruited Michael McManus, who has worked as a special advisor in three governments since the 1990s. He will join next month as a director. (Source: PR Week)

Rosabel Tao has been named senior vice president of corporate comms for MySpace. She will oversee all global external and internal comms for the social networking brand. (Source: PR Week)

Weekly free men’s magazine Shortlist has appointed Gershon Portnoi as its new deputy editor. He previously held the same position at TalkSport magazine and has also worked for Nuts and the Daily Express. He replaces Simon Kers, who left three months ago. (Source: Press Gazette)

Zach Leonard has been named the new digital chief of the Independent and London Evening Standard. The former Times Newspapers digital media publisher will aim to target mobile platforms and subscriptions in his new role. (Source: MediaGuardian)

Liam Hamilton will join STV as deputy director of content later this year. His TV career begun at STV as a trainee in 1981. (Source: MediaGuardian)

The chief executive of Guardian News & Media’s US operation is stepping down. Caroline Little leaves after just over a year in the position. (Source: MediaGuardian)

Paul Lewis will now stay at the Guardian, heading up a team focussed on multimedia and crowdsourcing. He was due to leave for the Time later this year. (Source: MediaGuardian)

Elaine Bedell is to become the new executive chair of the Edinburgh International Television Festival. The ITV director of entertainment and comedy replaces outgoing chair Tim Hincks. (Source: MediaGuardian)

Nick Powell has been appointed to the newly created role of sports editor at Sky News. The announcement coincides with the launch of Sky Sports News HD. (Source: MediaGuardian)

Simon Davies has announced he is leaving his role as commercial director of the Independent with immediate effect. Davies spent 11 months in the position. (Source: Brand Republic)

Elizabeth Hudson has been promoted to deputy editor at Crafts Beautiful magazine. (Source: journalism.co.uk)

Manchester Confidential has a new news editor in the form of Simon Binns. He was formerly senior business reporter at Manchester Business. (Source: journalism.co.uk)

Paul Gaskin has become the latest senior BBC executive to refuse the move to the new Salford HQ. The human resources director has quit after less than two months at the corporation. (Source: MediaGuardian)

Andy Kershaw will return to Radio 3 this autumn. After more than two years off the airwaves, the presenter will host a world music series that will tie in with BBC1 show Human Planet. (Source: MediaGuardian)

Mark Wood has been named the new chief executive of Future publishing UK. He joined the company in 2009, and will take up his new post at the end of August. (Source: journalism.co.uk)

News Corp has recruited Greg Clayman to run its tablet-based news organisation. He leaves his post as MTV’s executive vice-president of digital distribution and business development. (Source: MediaGuardian)

Al Young has been named as executive creative director of Inferno. He will head the agency’s 25-strong creative department. (Source: Brand Republic)

Jorian Murray is leaving Dye Holloway Murray to become global brand director of the Volvo account for Euro RSCG 4D. He will manage a new cross-agency called Team Volvo. (Source: Brand Republic)

Mark Sinnock has been appointed as planning director at Ogilvy & Mather Asia Pacific. His previous role was as marketing director at UK supermarket Asda. (Source: Brand Republic)

Mary Fagan is to leave her role as Royal Mail’s chief of corporate and government affairs. She leaves after seven years at the company, and will depart by the end of the year. (Source: PR Week)

The SPA Way has bolstered its senior team with the recruitment of Richard Medley. He joins as managing director, after spending three years as MD at Publicis Consultants. (Source: PR Week)

Alistair Clay has launched his own PR agency, Arc Seven Communications, to promote third sector bodies. Clay was the former relations manager at Plan UK. (Source: PR Week)

Cancer charity CLIC Sargent has hired four new staff to bolster its comms team. The top comms post has gone to Nicola Frame, while Elana McIntyre will take on a role as senior press officer. Alice White joins as press officer, and Amy Tout joins as comms and campaigns administrator. (Source: PR Week)

Michael Lee has been appointed as planning director for Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO. He joins from VCCP, having worked there for seven years. (Source: Brand Republic)

CNBC has appointed Torsten de Riese as digital director for the EMEA region. He joins the business news channel from Guardian News and Media. (Source: Brand Republic)

Amanda Docherty is understood to be leaving her role as head of comms at Arsenal football club. She joined in 1996, and took the top role in 1998. (Source: PR Week)

Kirsty Leighton is to leave her role as managing director of Text 100, having only spent four months in the role. She resigns to spend more time with her family. (Source: PR Week)

Paul Jackson has quit his role at London radio station Capital FM to join DMG Radio Australia. He leaves after being executive of Capital for three years. (Source: MediaGuardian)

ITV has named Robin Pembrooke as the replacement managing director of ITV.com. He joins from Global Radio, where he was online and interactive director. (Source: paidcontent.co.uk)

Ian Wright has been dropped from Channel 5’s Live From Studio Five programme. Heavy costcutting by new owner Richard Desmond means his contract was not renewed. (Source: MediaGuardian)

UKTV has confirmed that Darren Childs will become its new chief executive. He will move from his role as BBC Worldwide Channels marketing director. (Source: MediaGuardian)

ITV has hired Sharon Powers, the long-serving creative director of Big Brother. She will now become executive producer of ‘Loose Women’. (Source: MediaGuardian)

Simon Bates will leave Classic FM after 13 years, to join Smooth Radio’s new national breakfast show. He will join Smooth at the beginning of January. (Source: MediaGuardian)

Danny Leigh has been picked as Claudia Winkleman’s co-host for the BBC’s revamped Film 2010 show. Leigh will continue to write about films for The Guardian. (Source: MediaGuardian)

Anthony Harwood is leaving the Daily Mirror as a result of publisher Trinity Mirror attempting to cut 200 jobs. He had served the paper for 17 years, and will be leaving his role as head of news. (Source: Press Gazette)

Sue Robertson is to be made redundant from her role as corporate affairs director at Channel Five. She will leave at the end of the month. (Source: PR Week)

Mark White will leave his role as managing director of Channel Five as part of the wide-reaching cuts initiated by new owner Richard Desmond. (Source: Brand Republic)

Evelyn Webster is to leave her role as chief executive of IPC Media to become the executive vice-president of Time Inc. Former chief executive Sylvia Auton will replace her. (Source: Brand Republic)

The Telegraph’s head of mobile, Maani Safa has departed to pursue other career interests. In his time at the paper Safa worked with Apple and Google to develop the paper’s mobile strategy. (Source: New Media Age)

The Swindon Advertiser has appointed Katie Bond as its health reporter. She joins from the Wiltshire Gazette and Herald. (Source: journalism.co.uk)

Graham Sims has been named as HMV’s first group marketing director. It comes among a slew of promotions: Matt Button moves to lead the group CRM function, while Lee Bannister is promoted to head of brand marketing for Waterstone’s, HMV and Fopp. (Source: Brand Republic)

Paul Hutchinson has joined MEC as a client service director. He will oversee the agency’s client relationships. (Source: Brand Republic)

Mark Creighton has joined Mindshare in the new role of chief operating officer. Creighton previously worked at i-level from 2003, until it was liquidated in May. (Source: Campaign)

Outgoing vice-president of Burger King, David Kisilevsky, has joined McCann Worldgroup as sub-regional director, Central Eastern Europe. He starts at the end of August. (Source: Campaign)

Publicis Modem has hired Alix Pennycuick as its creative director. He moves from DraftFCB, and replaces Pablo Marques. (Source: Campaign)

Struq has appointed Antony Mures as its first commercial director, and has been tasked with growing the business in the ecommerce sector. (Source: New Media Age)