Spark*Advocacy has made a key addition to its team with the hiring of veteran journalist Annette Goerner to lead its public relations practice.

Goerner brings more than two decades of experience in broadcast journalism into her new role, almost 17 of that spent with CTV News in Ottawa, where most recently she was anchor of CTV Morning Live.

That experience brings “insight into how modern newsrooms and news media hum,” says Perry Tsergas, president and CEO of the agency, which will allow her to “provide our clients with the ability to craft stories, package them, and engage legacy and new media in ways that increase the likelihood of getting the earned media coverage or thought leadership exposure that is important.”

Goerner’s hiring comes at a time of growth for the agency, which is being driven by a number of clients who are looking for it to “strengthen and expand” its service offering to scale with them, says Tsergas.

“We have also found a desire to provide more of a one-stop-shop offering,” he adds. “But in order to do that and not sacrifice on quality or speed, it is important to have the right people, with the right mix of skills and experience, in place.”

The agency’s PR team is three strong, supported by an account team of eight “who all have deep experience providing communications support, crisis communication, media and presentation training and coaching, and earned media and media relations support,” Tsergas says.

Alongside its PR practice, the agency is also expanding its research team, having recruited Alex Kohut as senior director of Spark*Insights. Kohut joins the agency from the Office of the Prime Minister of Canada, where he had served as senior manager of research and advertising for the past eight months.

Kohut will “lead our day-to-day qualitative, quantitative and secondary research efforts to test messages, creative concepts and ideas with the general public and niche audiences,” says Tsergas.

“Having this ability in-house and baked into every project from the front end will be a huge advantage,” he adds. “It will allow for the fast, affordable and quality audience testing that will make for smarter, more effective campaigns.”