Auto Industry Front Group Gets New Head

"Barry McCahill, a longtime transportation PR and public affairs exec, has taken over as president of the Sport Utility Vehicle Owners of America, a lobbying group which claims to represent the 24 million SUV owners in the U.S.," O'Dwyer's PR Daily Reports. "Jason Vines, former managing director of Strat@comm and ex-head of PR at Ford, left the post in December to return to DaimlerChrysler, where he began his career. McCahill is a senior consultant to Strat@comm and the group's communications director is a principal and founder at the firm. McCahill was a longtime spokesman for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and was on the team that put together its talking crash-test dummies and 'Friends Don't Let Friends Drive Drunk' campaigns."