ABB, the global electrical engineering conglomerate, has picked an energy executive to head its Power Systems of North America unit in Raleigh.

Martin Gross moved to the Triangle from his post at ABB's world headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland, to assume his new assignment, effective Aug. 1. Gross, 48, has been with the company since 1986, most recently overseeing the Global Power Generation Group. He had previously lived and worked in Germany and Poland for ABB.

ABB operates in more than 100 countries and employs more than 115,000 people, including about 450 in Raleigh and Cary. The company employs 12,000 people throughout North America, including its North American headquarters in Norwalk, Conn.

The Power Systems group in Raleigh oversees global manufacturing, marketing and sales of electrical substations, network-management software and repair services.

Gross replaces Mike Barnoski, who is retiring from ABB after nearly three decades.

In other moves ...

Jamie Nunnelly joined the National Institute of Statistical Sciences as communications director. Nunnelly will provide communications counsel and services to NISS and the Statistical and Applied Mathematical Sciences Institute in Research Triangle Park.

Andrew M. Lamar has joined City Ballet in Raleigh as an instructor of advanced ballet technique. Paige Worsham joined as a pointe instructor.

Jim Swingle has been named director of property sales for King Corp., doing business as The King Partnership Property Sales, the newly created real estate division of The King Partnership Advertising Agency. Swingle is responsible for sales at the Villages of Apex.

Edward Pollard joined the Raleigh office of McKim & Creed as general counsel. Jason Allen was hired as a project engineer and Elizabeth Burke as a project accountant. McKim & Creed provides engineering and surveying services.

Greg E. Murphy joined Clark Nexsen as a senior civil engineer. Clark Nexsen is an architectural, engineering, planning, and interior design firm with offices in Raleigh and Charlotte. Amanda E. Wade joined the firm as an interior designer, and Dave G. Blankfard joined as a senior structural engineer.

Jim Hefner, former vice president and general manager at WRAL-TV joined UNC-CH's School of Journalism and Mass Communication as a professor of journalism.

On the boards ...

Maurice Coleman, managing director at Cherokee Investment Partners of Raleigh, was appointed academic committee chairman of the Dean's Advisory Council for the E.J. Ourso College of Business at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge.

Hemophilia of North Carolina named three experts to its board of directors: Tracy Kelly, a pediatric nurse practitioner in hematology-oncology at Duke Children's Hospital and a clinical instructor at Duke University School of Medicine; Adam Trunkey, a communications leader for the information protection services group at IBM in Cary; and Sally S. Wright, a social work clinical specialist at the Harold R. Roberts Comprehensive Hemophilia Diagnostic and Treatment Center, UNC-Chapel Hill.

Bob Greczyn, president and chief executive officer of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, has been re-elected chairman of the East Carolina University Board of Trustees. David Brody, a Kinston developer and philanthropist, was elected vice chairman and Robbie O. Hill secretary.

James M. Landwehr, director of data analysis research at Avaya Labs Research, was named chairman of the trustees of the National Institute of Statistical Sciences in Research Triangle Park. Jessica M. Utts, of the University of California-Davis, will serve as vice chairwoman. New board members are: Mary Ellen Bock of Purdue University, Keith Soper of Merck, Clifford Spiegelman of Texas A&M University, Michael Kosorok of UNC at Chapel Hill and James Rosenberger of Pennsylvania State University.

The United Arts Council of Raleigh and Wake County has five new board members: Ellie Brauneis of Price WaterhouseCoopers; Leesa M. Craigie, director of news and special projects at WRAL-TV; Randy Fraser, retired from Time Warner Cable; John J. Healy Jr. of Hyde Street Holdings and Quinton Maynard of Golden Corral.

Enterprising Women magazine in Cary named new member to the Enterprising Women National Advisory Board: Sung-Joo Kim of Sungjoo Group in Korea, Lisa Pineiro of Technical Services in Durham, and Marion K. Hook of Adobe Rose Inn in Tucson, Ariz.

Jon D. Hensarling, associate attorney at Ragsdale Liggett in Raleigh, was named to the International Affairs Council board of directors. The council promotes understanding of world affairs, diplomacy and the recognition of North Carolina as a center of education, culture and business.

Brant Spesshardt, a Raleigh financial planner with Banyan Rock & Talent, has been elected to a second term as board chairman of Community Partnerships, a Raleigh organization that creates opportunities for people with disabilities, mental illnesses or other social and economic disadvantages.

Christopher Viehbacher, president of North American pharmaceuticals for GlaxoSmithKline, will lead the annual National Multiple Sclerosis Society Dinner of Champions. The event will celebrate the positive contributions made by health and life-sciences organizations.