ATLANTA: Hayslett Sorrel last week reinforced its staff by hiring away two established pros from Porter Novelli and The Chauncey Group.
ATLANTA: Hayslett Sorrel last week reinforced its staff by hiring
away two established pros from Porter Novelli and The Chauncey
Group.
Former PN/Atlanta SVP David Morrison and Chauncey public affairs pro
Jack Burris - both colleagues of Hayslett partner Charlie Hayslett from
their days working in and covering the Jimmy Carter gubernatorial
administration - have joined the firm as VPs, upping the Atlanta-based
agency’s hi-tech and public affairs capabilities.
Morrison, who launched PN/Atlanta in 1995 after opening the local office
of the firm’s hi-tech partner Copithorne & Bellows a year earlier, had
led PN’s day-to-day operations until the hiring of GM Kathy Bremer in
January.
’David and I are both recovering journalists,’ said Hayslett. The two
were previously friendly rivals at crosstown newspapers and have
remained close over the last 25 years.
Morrison’s presence will likely jump-start the agency’s hi-tech
offerings.
’We’ve done some hi-tech, but we haven’t carved out a niche,’ said
Hayslett.
’We’re fortunate that we were able to lure David away from Porter
Novelli.’
Burris, recruited from Chauncey by Hayslett and partner Mary Sorrel, is
expected to help turn the agency into one of the definitive public
affairs practices in Atlanta.
Burris previously served as director of intergovernmental affairs for
three Atlanta state governors and co-founded a public affairs shop,
Davis Burris & Associates. During the 1980s, he also served as deputy
director of the Democratic Policy Commission.
Not unlike his past history with Hayslett, Burris has also crossed paths
with Sorrel before. In the late 1980s, both worked at Professional
Training Systems (now known as the Interactive Health Network).
