Execs & Accounts: R/GA, Ikea, Mediaedge:cia

R/GA names a managing director, client services, in the New York office. Richard Marks, promoted to the newly-created position, will oversee all account management teams for the New York office. Marks joined R/GA in 2000.

Ikea continues its 10-episode Web series.The series is co-developed by Mediaedge:cia and SXM. The third episode, “Easy to Assemble,” became available this week starring actress Illeana Douglas.

Consumer engagement agency TruEffect named Kurt DeMarias SVP of global sales. DeMarias will be responsible for driving adoption of DirectServe, the agency’s online consumer engagement platform, for advertisers across North America and global territories. DeMarias has 25 years of experience in sales and strategy development for leaders in digital marketing and consumer brands. He was VP of sales in North America for Responsys. He previously led sales in North America for behavioral targeting solution provider Touch Clarity, which was acquired by Omniture.

Diane Kuehn, VisionPoint Marketing president and CEO, was named to the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce executive committee. Kuehn will serve as vice chair of communications, where she will work with an expert panel of 28 communications board members.

Passenger named Samantha Skey GM of Eastern Region and SVP of business development. Skey was executive vice president of strategic marketing at Alloy, at the on-demand customer collaboration agency. At Passenger, she will lead the New York office. Skey takes over for Steve Howe, who was promoted to the role of president and COO.

NetShelter added Fixya to its vertical media network portfolio. Fixya.com joins the technology-oriented vertical.

WeatherBug hired three account executives. Jacob Millstein, account executive, previously worked at Nielsen Business Media where he was responsible for digital advertising for HollywoodReporter.com and BackStage.com. Millstein will be responsible for selling accounts in New York and in the Boston region. Keith Sklar, account executive, joins WeatherBug from IAC Advertising Solutions where he worked with a portfolio of Web sites such as Evite and CitySearch. Rachel Calderon, senior account executive, spent over eight years with Information Week/TechWeb Network, where she was responsible for online, print, custom, and event sponsorship sales in seven Western U.S. states. Calderon will be responsible for selling to accounts in Southern California where she is based, but will also have accounts in Northern California and other Western states.

Breeder’s Cub retained WhittmanHart Interactive for its digital strategy business. The agency is working to assess the current site, breederscup.com, to develop immediate and long-term, interactive platforms across marketing, ticketing, wagering, and retail for the Breeders’ Cup World Championships, which celebrates its 25th running this month.

Netvibes will power personalization and widgets for Russian Internet portal Rambler.ru. Netvibes signed a multi-year deal to become the exclusive regional distribution partner and provide its Startpage and Widget technologies in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States. Personalized startpages are expected to feature search (Google); video search (Blinkx); video downloads (Rambler Kinozal); product comparisons (Price.ru); Russian news (Lenta.ru); instant messaging (Rambler ICQ); as well as Russian media and news content.