Marketink

The new officers and board of directors of the San Diego Press Club were recently announced. For the 2011-12 term, president is Nicole Sours Larson, writer; first vice president is Jill Esterbrooks, office of San Diego Council President; second vice-president is Ed Joyce, KPBS; treasurer continues to be Reid Carroll, retired radio newsman; secretary is Pauline Repard, reporter; and immediate past president is Lee Swanson, San Diego Fire Rescue Department.

Board members include travel writer Maggie Espinosa, Kris Eitland of sandiego.com, Gayle Lynn Falkenthal, APR, of the Falcon Valley Group, Sally Hixson of Sal Marketing, Karolen Linderman of Del Mar Community Connections, Barbara Metz of Metz PR, Dennis Morgigno of Channel 4, Lisa Petrillo of AboutYourJob.com, Laura Walcher of J. Walcher Communications and Tom York of the San Diego Business Journal. Directors Emeritus are KPBSí Gloria Penner and retired reporter, Frank Saldana.

Eliza Dougall has been hired by Anderson Direct Marketing as vice president of business development.

Dougall has worked with both business-to-business and business-to-consumer clients such as Sears, Washington Mutual, Bravo Health/HealthSpring, Health Net and more.

Visit Oceanside Conference and Visitors Bureau has hired Dana Porter Higgins as senior sales manager where she will oversee all group sales efforts.

Higgins most recently served as director of marketing at Cal-A-Vie Spa in Vista.

J. simms agency was recently honored with two MarCom awards, which honors excellence in marketing and communications.

An award was presented to the firm based on its utilization of mobile marketing for a Jedidiah Sunglass Giveaway campaign. The program was created to drive event attendees to the Jedidiah booth where they could then find out more about the brand. During a one-day period, approximately 188 people opted-in to the mobile program, which drove more than 300 people to its booth.

The second award was presented for the agencyís social media outreach for the RSVP Talk Show. The team decided the best way to educate the community about this new show in a quick and timely fashion was to spread the word through social media and to also incorporate social media in the show.

Hospitality-oriented J Public Relations has added three new San Diego clients, which include Davanti Enoteca, as part of the Mia Francesca family of restaurants, Donovanís Prime Seafood and Saltbox Dining & Drinking, under the direction of Executive Chef Simon Dolinky.

Scheduled to open in the summer of 2012, the Hilton Carlsbad Oceanfront Resort & Spa, has named Mary Ahlstrom as director of sales.

Previously, Ahlstrom served as Director of Sales at the Inn at Rancho Santa Fe and prior to that, she was a national sales mananger at LíAuberge Del Mar Resort and Spa.