Barton F. Graf hired Savanah Brihn as chief strategy officer and promoted Sara Kastner to chief operating officer, a new position at the agency. Brihn joins from McCann New York, where she was most recently SVP group planning director. Previously, she worked at MTV, Redscout, BBDO and Fallon. Kastner joined the agency in 2014 and was most recently head of project management. She's worked at Fallon, barrettSF and Wieden & Kennedy.

Chief Creative Officer Vann Graves will leave J. Walter Thompson Atlanta to become director of VCU Brandcenter. He begins Aug. 10. Previously, Graves founded agency FL&G and was a creative director at McCann WorldGroup. He began his career as an intern at BBDO and enlisted in the Army after 9/11.

R/GA Chicago hired creative directors Sue Kohm and Lizette Morazzani. Previously. Kohm was a creative director and copywriter at Grey/Toronto where she was the lead creative on "Ladyballs" and worked on the "Groceries Not Guns" campaign. She has also worked in Canada at Innocean Worldwide, Draftfcb, Young & Rubicam and Ogilvy Toronto. Morazzani joins from McCann Puerto Rico, where she worked on campaigns like "Tequila Cloud" and "Doppleganger Tourists." She has also worked at JWT Puerto Rico and Lápiz.

BBH New York has named Ed Zazzera its head of production. Previously, he spent nine years at DDB where he managed a team of producers, the internal production studio and the business affairs group. Before that, Zazzera was executive producer at BBDO New York and produced commercials at Cliff Freeman & Partners.

Possible appointed Valerie Carlson and Jason Marks as executive creative directors for the L.A. and N.Y. offices, respectively. The new hires bring the agency's executive leadership team in the Americas to 50 percent female. Prior to joining Possible, Carlson was global VP creative at Method Products and has held positions at EVB and SapientNitro. Marks was previously ECD at McCann New York. He has worked on clients like Nike, IBM Watson, Mastercard, Philips, Burger King and MTV.

Engine promoted Billy Faithfull to chief creative officer, a new role for the agency. It also hired Paul Jordan to lead its creative agency WCRS as executive creative director. Jordan joins from McGarryBowen, where he was joint-ECD. He spent four years as a creative director at Wieden & Kennedy London and previously worked at AMV BBDO.

Portland-based creative agency Swift hired Creative Director Paul Bjork, best known for work on Taco Bell and eBay. Previously, he has worked at 72andSunny, TBWAChiatDay, Crispin Porter & Bogusky and Wieden & Kennedy, on clients like Carl's Jr., Call of Duty, Best Buy, Domino's, Microsoft, Nike, Coke, Starbucks and Old Spice.

We Are Social has acquired a majority stake in Socialize, the Middle East's largest independent social media agency. This is We Are Social's first acquisition and extends its network to the Middle East and North Africa for the first time. This is the agency's 11th office in nine countries. Socialize will continue operating as an independent brand under founder and managing director Akanksha Goel.

Former Pitchfork President Chris Kaskie and Creative Director Mike Renaud announced the formation of Chicago-based creative studio Varyer. Danny Wirtz, vice chairman of Breakthru Beverage Group, is also a partner. The studio currently runs Asrai Garden in Wicker Park and helped create the music and arts festival Basilica SoundScape. The Chicago Blackhawks hockey team also named Varyer its agency of record.

Fake Love hired Taylor Hight as senior vice president of client services and promoted Senior Creative Director Daniel Liss to executive creative director. Most recently, Hight was VP of client engagement at T3, working with brands like Allstate, Kraft Heinz, JPMorgan Chase, Marriott, Dell and JCPenney. Liss joined Fake Love a year ago and has worked with clients such as Bell Labs and Equinox. Previously, he was VP creative director at Arnold Worldwide.