General Motors Co. appointed Brooke Ellis diversity media manager, a newly created position. Ellis will oversee multiplatform consumer media plans for the multicultural market. She will also manage both GM?s multimillion-dollar diversity budget and the company?s diversity agency relationships, from developing concepts for media research to developing contracts with TV, print, radio and digital media partners, including the Oprah Winfrey Network and Univision. Prior to this, Ellis was manager of marketing and media relations at Pricewater-houseCoopers, in charge of automotive-focused media, with responsibility for developing signature events. Her team was credited with placing PWC at the forefront of the industry. Ellis has a bachelor?s degree in marketing from Hampton University.?
NobleStrategy L.L.C., a construction management and training firm, promoted Ceylon Frett to vice president. Frett joined the company in 2008 and most recently was its director of business development. He has more than 20 years? experience in sales, marketing and technology consulting, during which time he compiled extensive knowledge developing new business for construction facilities and real estate clients. He will now oversee NobleStrategy?s daily operations, client services and project management. Frett chairs the Newark Public Schools School-to-Career & College Initiatives Technology Advisory Board and is a board member of the
Rutgers University Small Business Development Center. He has a bachelor?s degree in marketing from Morgan State University and a certificate from the Fundamentals of Construction Management Certification Program at New York City College of Technology.?????
Ola Kudu joined Global Advertising Strategies as creative director, overseeing the development and execution of all? the company?s creative campaigns. He was creative director at BET Networks, where he rebranded and repositioned the Viacom property, garnering an Emmy Award in the process. Years earlier at GlobalHue, he led the creative for Verizon Wireless, focusing on African-American, Hispanic and youth markets. Kudu has also received Telly, Folio and NAMIC Multicultural Marketing Committee awards. He is a committee member of the PromaxBDA Promo Pathway program, which trains at-risk youth for careers in advertising, design and other creative industries. Kudu holds a bachelor?s degree in East Asian Studies from Wesleyan University in Connecticut.
Trymaine Lee was named senior reporter at The Huffington Post, making him the first African-American hired since the AOL/Huffington Post partnership. Lee will report on national issues that impact the Black community. He has worked at several news outlets since 2002, including The New York Times, The Times-Picayune, The Trentonian and The Philadelphia Tribune. He played a significant role in The Times-Picayune?s coverage of Hurricane Katrina and was part of a team that won a 2006 Pulitzer Prize for breaking news. Lee is a member of the National Association of Black Journalists from which he received the 2006 Emerging Journalist of the Year Award. He has an associate degree in communications from Camden County Community College and a bachelor?s in journalism from Rowan University.????????
Janet Rolle was named executive vice president and chief marketing officer for CNN Worldwide. She previously held the same titles at BET Networks, where she led brand strategy and marketing efforts, with responsibility for on-air promotions, off-channel and digital marketing and affiliate and trade marketing. Prior to BET Networks, Rolle was vice president and general manager of AOL?s Black Voices and Women?s and Lifestyle Programming. She also worked at MTV Networks and HBO. Rolle serves on the board of directors of the American Foundation of the University of the West Indies. She has an MBA from Columbia University, where she was president of the Black Business Students Association, and a bachelor?s degree in fine arts from the State University of New York at Purchase.
Mary E. Stutts was appointed vice president of global communications at Bristol Myers-Squibb. Prior to this, she was vice president of corporate communications at United Health Group, and before that a corporate relations executive in the Biotechnology Business Unit of Bayer Corp. following several positions in public relations at Kaiser Permanente. In her new role, she will develop and execute the global strategic plan for communications and support the implementation of companywide communication initiatives. A 2011 TNJ ?25 Influential Black Women in Business? honoree, Stutts earned a B.A. in communications management from the University of Louisiana, a master?s in health administration from the University of Southern California and completed the executive program on organization and strategy at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.