People news from DraftFCB SF, Gartner and more

DraftFCB San Francisco has named Chris Ford as chief creative officer. Ford will be charged with leading the agency's creative department that spans San Francisco and an office in Seattle. He was most recently with Ogilvy & Mather Sydney as executive creative director. Prior to that, he spent 11 years at Goodby Silverstein & Partners, working his way up from a senior copywriter to group creative director, developing campaigns for clients such as Comcast, Saturn and TiVo. Ford's career also includes work at Chiat/Day in New York, JWT in San Francisco and Wolfe/Doyle in San Francisco. He has won awards including Cannes Lions, One Show Pencils, D&AD Pencils and Clio Awards, and also wrote and directed the 2008 independent film The Village Barbershop starring Cheers actor John Ratzenberger.

Gartner has signed director Benjamin Lee Gordon for exclusive US general market spot representation. Gordon's notable work includes We Are Far Away, We Need to Shout Louder for the Barcelona River Plate Fan Club ( DraftFCB), and a project that led to Seat's Express Yourself launch for the Ibiza ST model (Atletico International). He has also directed spots for Nike, Nokia, Brugal Rum, Ford and music app Shazam, as well as short films.

BigSmack, the Philadelphia creative agency and entertainment marketing company led by Andy Hann, has appointed Andrew Kobliska as head of marketing & business development. Additionally the company has opened a New York City office, based in the Flatiron creative district, and relaunched its website. Kobliksa and Hann worked together previously in the mid 1990s at the Los Angeles-based creative boutique SMOG, which Kobliska co-founded, and later at entertainment marketing agency Pittard Sullivan where their team created and managed the launch of the Fox Family Channel, Game Show Network and Fox Kids International. Kobliska also served as the president of Entertainment at IF! International and as president of the Entertainment Division at Vagrant Records before joining DIRECTV as executive director of creative services and On-Air in 2004.

Omnicom digital marketing agency Critical Mass has appointed Christine Bridger as vice president, creative at its Chicago office. Prior to joining Critical Mass, she worked at digital agencies including Razorfish and Digitas, and has over 12 years of experience in creating digital experiences for brands such as Best Buy, AT&T, JCPenney, Nestle, Kraft, 20th Century Fox and Proctor & Gamble.

Atlanta agency Fitzgerald & Co has made three new creative hires, appointing Marc Linveldt as executive creative director and Mitch Bennett and Wes Whitener creative directors. Linveldt is a former regional creative director for Saatchi & Saatchi Middle East North Africa (MENA), and has won 11 Cannes Lions, multiple OneShow pencils and Clio statues for his creative work for Sony, Mont Blanc, Levi's and BMW. Bennett was most recently with Crispin Porter + Bogusky and worked with Whitener as a team at McKinney + Silver, developing campaigns for Southwest Airlines, Goodyear, Sony, Travelocity and McDonald's, and at GSD&M. The hires were made by chief creative officer Noel Cottrell, who joined the agency six months ago from Grey New York.

Sonzero Films has signed with New York boutique talent management agency House of Cards for East Coast representation. Global beauty director Jim Sonzero has worked for many New York-based beauty brands including L'Oreal, Garnier, Revlon and Maybelline. He recently directed a series of spots for Neutrogena and New York agency Roberts + Langer DDB starring Hayden Panettiere and Emma Roberts.

Short Films has signed fashion and beauty director Giles-Lovell Wilson for commercial representation. Wilson has directed commercials for the likes of Olay, Max Factor and Galaxy, as well as recent spots for Falabella and The English National Ballet.