People on the Move

The creative team of Fernando Carrion and Rodrigo Bistene has joined FCB New York as sr. copywriter and sr. art director, respectively. The duo, aka The Raccoons, comes over from VML.

Hailing from Mexico and Brazil, Carrion and Bistene are most renowned for their work in creating the Proud Whopper campaign for Burger King, winner of 13 Cannes Lions, and for convincing people to follow Pepto Bismol on Twitter.

The Raccoons moniker springs, in their own words, from they’re being “social creatures who like to work in groups. We appear to be harmless but we can turn pretty wild when an opportunity arises. But more than anything, we can easily find hidden food and fall asleep in unexpected places.”

Young & Laramore, a creative agency based in Indianapolis, has appointed Grace Gibbons as its newest account manager and Catherine Watson as associate account manager.

Gibbons will manage, review and deliver projects for Y&L’s KraftMaid Cabinetry client. She will be reporting directly to VP of account management, Nick Prihoda. Prior to joining Young & Laramore, Gibbons served as account associate at Willow Marketing.
 
As associate account manager, Watson will be working with clients including Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance, American Standard and Matilda Jane. Before joining the team, she served as account executive at Curiosity 360 where she worked with brands such as Cincinnati Bell, MedVet Emergency and Specialty Animal Hospital.

Erica Jacquez will join the Directors Guild of America (DGA) as executive in charge of government affairs later this month. 

Russell Hollander, associate national executive director of the DGA, said of Jacquez, “Her deep experience in government affairs and in D.C. will be a significant asset in advocating for our members on the critical policy issues that impact their work and economic and creative rights. We look forward to putting her expertise to use on behalf of our membership.”

Jacquez will be responsible for the Guild’s federal legislative and governmental work, and will serve as an advocate for the DGA and its members on key issues such as intellectual property, copyright and anti-piracy protections; federal and state incentives for runaway film and television production; and issues relating to the protection of DGA members’ creative and economic rights. Jacquez will also coordinate and manage the work of the DGA Political Action Committee (PAC) and DGA PAC Leadership Council. 
 
Jacquez comes on board following the retirement of longtime government affairs executive Kathy Garmezy. Jacquez joins the Guild from AltaMed Health Services--a network of community health care providers for underserved communities throughout Southern California--where she was associate VP of government relations. In Washington D.C., she served as a legislative analyst at the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and prior to that as a Congressional relations officer at the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development. Earlier in her career Jacquez was the main community liaison for Los Angeles County Supervisor Gloria Molina.
 
Jacquez received both her doctorate in policy, planning and development, and M.P.A. from the University of Southern California. She earned her B.A. in criminal justice from California State University, Fullerton. She is also a graduate of Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government’s Executive Leadership Program.

Creative editors Lisa Mogol, Cindy Nielsen, Christopher Pensiero and Bryan Wetzel have joined the commercial roster of Bikini Edit. 

Mogol was previously at Moondog Editorial, and prior to that, Company X and Mad River Post. Well known for breakthrough extended-length projects for Ralph Lauren, Sports Illustrated and Vault Soda, Mogol also has to her credit the feature film “Sting: When the Last Ship Sails” and music videos for Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, Hopewell and Travis. Her short-form reel spans from the epic to the very personal, serving brands such as Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Folgers, Jif, Jockey, Michael Kors, Pepsi and Smuckers in the past year alone--including three separate campaigns for major Olympic sponsors in 2016.

Nielsen’s earlier staff positions at Homestead Editorial and Chinagraph Editorial helped perfect her craft on numerous prominent campaigns. Before beginning her freelance career in 2007, she had already cut campaigns for Claritin, Dove, Hershey’s, Maybelline and Philips (Cannes Gold Cyber Lion winner, Effie Gold and Silver Award winner, among many others) via agencies Euro, Gotham, Ogilvy, Rapp Collins, Tribal Worldwide, Y&R and more. In 2010, Nielsen launched Eye Candy Edit in partnership with Pensiero, who is her husband. Nielsen freelanced via Eye Candy.

Another NYC-based editor who came into his own at Chinagraph Editorial, Pensiero also focused on editing during his seven years with the company, which followed many years of production work on feature films. Spreading his wings as a freelance editor in 2006, Pensiero landed at the aforementioned Eye Candy Edit. He has cut assorted notable commercials over the past decade, and among his long-form credits are the documentary Swing State Ohio and the narrative features 12 and Holding, Hounddog and AWOL.

Freelancing over the past several years, Wetzel has been active in commercials and documentary fare. His most recent spot credits include campaigns for Comcast, IBM, Lowes, Starburst, Tide, UPS, Verizon FIOS and Wendy’s. His ongoing documentary work for the ALS Foundation also stands out among Wetzel’s many passion projects.

Bikini Edit was founded by editor/owner Avi Oron in 1990. The studio launched in 2016 the SITE 57 gallery program creating public showing opportunities for a diverse range of artist while enhancing Bikini’s environment for creative work. SITE 57 is housed in a 1,400 square foot storefront gallery adjacent to the Bikini Edit offices in NYC. Cary Flaum is EP of Bikini Edit.