Dix & Eaton Promotes Chas Withers to President, Keith Mabee to Vice Chairman

CLEVELAND, March 24 /PRNewswire/ -- Dix & Eaton Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Scott Chaikin announced today the appointments of Chas Withers as president of the firm and Keith Mabee as vice chairman.

Withers, 42, is currently a senior managing director of the firm and a member of its Executive Committee and Board of Directors. In his new position, he will be responsible for client service, practice development, staff assignments and development, and professional partnerships and alliances. He has been with Dix & Eaton a total of 10 years and was twice a client of the firm.

Mabee, 60, is a nationally known communications and investor relations counselor who joined Dix & Eaton in 1997 and was promoted to president in 1998. As vice chairman he will focus on providing senior-level counsel to clients, supervising major client engagements and directing the firm's Transactions practice. He will also continue to serve on the Executive Committee and Board of Directors.

"Over the past decade, Keith has been highly instrumental in the success of our geographic growth strategy and the increased sophistication of our service capabilities, and he is a vital member of our senior leadership and client-service team," said Chaikin. "Chas is an outstanding leader and trusted advisor who offers the perspective of having been on both the client and counselor sides of the table. He has a great deal of experience, a strong point of view and a keen sense of how and when to voice an unpopular opinion. He is extraordinary at quickly grasping the nuances of a business situation and identifying how communications can have an impact. He is highly respected within our firm and far beyond, and he has tremendous intelligence, energy and creativity that serve our clients, our people and our firm extremely well."

Chaikin added, "By transitioning many of the operational aspects of our firm to Chas, we are further solidifying our leadership into the future, allowing Keith to dedicate more time to clients and the firm's geographic diversification while leveraging Chas' considerable skills and experience to the greater benefit of our clients and the firm."

About Chas Withers

Withers heads Dix & Eaton's Marketing Communications practice, which represents about one-third of the firm's business. The practice assists organizations in crafting and implementing marketing strategies, and leveraging communications as a business driver and activator. Withers has spearheaded the firm's growth in branding and corporate identity, including introducing its Brand Culture Integration process. He also directs services for a number of major clients.

In prior roles at the firm, Withers had responsibility for the Technology & Emerging Growth practice, Editorial Services and Interactive Services and served as deputy in the Media Relations practice.

Previously, Withers was managing director for strategic marketing and communications for Answerthink Inc., a Miami-based international consulting firm specializing in best-practice finance, HR, IT and strategic planning solutions for Fortune 1000 firms. He also served as director of media relations at Case Western Reserve University and held corporate communications positions with Malone Public Relations and Children's Hospital Medical Center of Akron.

A graduate of Kent State University, Withers holds a bachelor's degree in journalism. He has twice been a member of teams selected as recipients of The Silver Anvil Award from the Public Relations Society of America. Withers serves as a board member for The Ohio Tuition Trust Authority, The Great Lakes Science Center, The President's Council Foundation, Lakewood Catholic Academy, College 360 and Business Volunteers Unlimited (BVU), and advisor to the North Coast Angel Fund. He is a graduate of the 2007 class of Leadership Cleveland.

About Keith Mabee

Before joining Dix & Eaton, Mabee served as vice president - corporate relations for Figgie International, Inc., a Fortune 500 conglomerate where he was responsible for human resources and administration, corporate communications, government affairs and investor relations. Before joining Figgie International in 1993, he served as vice president - communications at Industrial Indemnity, a $1 billion San Francisco-based Xerox Financial Services Company.

Previously, he was senior vice president, corporate communications with AMFAC, Inc., a former Fortune 50 diversified services company based in San Francisco, where he was responsible for corporate communications, government affairs and investor relations. He also served as a communications specialist with International Paper Company in New York, and as a public affairs officer for NATO and the U.S. Army in Europe and the Pacific. He was a senior lecturer in the Queensland University of Technology's College of Management in Australia and served as an organizational effectiveness consultant in Australasia. He is a former president of the San Francisco chapter of the National Investor Relations Institute, previously served as an officer and director of NIRI's national board and as chairman of NIRI's Senior Roundtable, and currently serves on the steering committee of NIRI's Center for Strategic Communication and Reputation Management.

"Keith provides clients an invaluable 'been-there-done-that' perspective from his own career experience and has helped innumerable organizations through tumultuous periods of transition," said Chaikin. "As a result, he is a respected and much sought-after counselor and confidant of senior management teams and boards of directors."

Recent Progress of Dix & Eaton

Chaikin said, "Over the past several years, both Keith and Chas have been key contributors to strengthening the firm, establishing a solid foundation as we continue to grow our geographic footprint and develop innovative approaches to help clients improve performance and confront their most important issues. They've helped to expand our client base across the country and to deliver more powerful services to all of our clients, which continues to be the basis of our go-forward strategy."

In recent years D&E has played leading roles in such major transactions, crises and initiatives as:

    -- A $5 billion acquisition by one of the nation's largest health and
       wellness companies
    -- A strike and bankruptcy involving one of the world's largest airlines
    -- The aftermath of an accident that killed a dozen West Virginia
       coalminers
    -- Rebranding for a multibillion-dollar worldwide services company
    -- Managing a global communications network covering Asia, Europe and
       Latin America for a market-leading services company
    -- European and Middle-Eastern media outreach for one of the world's
       leading research companies
    -- U.S. media outreach for a Saudi Arabia-based retail franchising company

Since 2001, D&E was twice named the nation's best mid-size public relations firm and consistently ranked as a "best agency to work for" by The Holmes Report, a leading trade publication. The firm has also maintained its tradition of client longevity, continuing to serve two-thirds of its 1990 clients that still exist.

Dix & Eaton now has clients in most regions of the country -- including New England, the Southeast, the Upper Midwest, the Southwest and the Pacific Coast -- and select locations overseas. Its communications outreach often includes such markets as Beijing, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, London, Moscow, Mumbai, Shanghai, Singapore and other regions of importance to clients. To further extend its reach, the firm has its own group of 65 partner firms in some 40 global markets to provide specific expertise, including media relations, investor relations, crisis communications and marketing communications, in Asia, Europe, Latin America and elsewhere.

Communication has the power to significantly improve performance, and Dix & Eaton partners with client management to harness that power. We specialize in building stronger stakeholder relationships through investor relations, media relations, marketing communications and employee communications. We also help organizations manage special situations with practices focused on crisis management and transaction communications. Founded in 1952, Dix & Eaton is the largest employee-owned PR and IR firm in the United States. For more information, visit www.dix-eaton.com .

SOURCE Dix & Eaton