Steak sizzles into the U.S. market, plus other interactive industry hires, partnerships, launches and announcements.

AdReady announced the appointments of Mark Feldman as SVP of sales and business development, and Saleel Sathe as VP for product management.

ContextWeb, a contextual advertising company, announced the establishment of the ContextWeb Advisory Board. Joining the new board are Ira Carlin, former chairman-international of Interpublic's MAGNA Global Worldwide and former chairman of Universal McCann; Robin Cooper, VP of advertising and business development for auto publisher Kelley Blue Book; and Scot McLernon, president of the Upstream Group and former head of sales for CBS Digital..

Critical Mass, an Omnicom digital marketing agency, has appointed Mark Szabo, Taro Ramberg, Karolina Vieser, Kamal Syan and Carolyn Robertson to its leadership team.

ExpoTV, a video-based social commerce network specifically tailored for the consumer in control, announced the appointment of David Rubinstein to VP of media sales.

FreeWheel has hired Laura Sebekos as an account director, Melissa Mulvill as a sales director, Franz Vermeulen as head of business services and Brent Horowitz as director of sales and business development.

Infusion Software announced the appointment of Michael Effinger as CFO.

Javelin Direct, an Omnicom strategic direct marketing agency, has named Mark Miller as VP, business development. 

Kontera, a provider of in-text advertising for online publishers and advertisers, announced the launch of the Kontera Hybrid, an in-text solution that delivers contextually relevant content and advertising in a single unit.

MEC Interaction, a division of Mediaedge:cia, has announced the promotions of Richard Astley and Lindsey Kollross to group media directors.

NetShelter Technology Media announced that it has hired Laura Gaffney as VP of its publisher network.

PhiMa (The Philadelphia Interactive Marketing Association) has reported strong growth in its community of marketing professionals in the Philadelphia area. The association's last mixer had more than 250 attendees, and officials at the organization expect to see the continued expansion of the Philadelphia interactive marketing community.

Silverpop's board of directors has approved the promotion of Garrett Suhm to SVP of engineering and product operations.

Steak, a U.K. agency, announced its U.S. launch, naming as its first clients the fashion brand French Connection, the luxury lingerie brand Myla and the global mobile-based community FunkySexyCool.

TRAFFIQ has announced that its Internet Traffic Exchange has been nominated for the prestigious 2008 SAI 25 list, honoring the world’s most valuable digital startups.

Editor's note: We list the companies and people alphabetically according to what company hires what person or another company. Our weekly column is always looking for announcements, so please email them to mediamotions@imediaconnection.com.

Michael Estrin is an associate editor, iMediaConnection. Read full bio.