Jazz Senior VP & CMO JAY FRANCIS will resign to become a Mission President for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, effective July 1 (Jazz)....Robert Morris Univ. named former Pirates Dir of Promotions & Advertising RICHARD ORIENZA CEO of the Island Sports Center, an athletic and entertainment venue open to students and the general public (PITTSBURGH BUSINESS TIMES, 1/31 issue)....NYRA Dir of Communications GLEN MATHES has officially retired after 23 years at NYRA, including 14 as Dir of Communications (BLOODHORSE.com, 1/30)....In this week’s SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, Terry Lefton reports MasterCard Dir of Global Marketing Communications MARC LEVY has joined Cohn & Wolfe, N.Y., where he will work on the firm’s American Express account, among others. Lefton also reports Octagon has hired former PGA Tour player ROBERT WRENN and former Univ. of Kentucky golf coach DAN UTLEY for its Richmond-based golf division. Wrenn will handle player management and Utley will help recruit amateur golfers (SBJ, 1/31 issue).

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In this week’s SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, Terry Lefton reports Massachusetts-based advertising and PR agency CONOVER TUTTLE is “hoping to raise its profile as a creative shop with the acquisition of” North Carolina-based MERCURY ADVERTISING. Mercury Principal GRANT PACE conceived the Bud Bowl and has also done work for Hanes underwear with MICHAEL JORDAN. Pace, who will have the title of Exec Creative Dir, joins as a partner, so the firm will be known as Conover Tuttle Pace (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 1/31 issue).

PISTONS: PRESIDENT BUSH hosted the Pistons at the White House yesterday, where C BEN WALLACE and G CHAUNCEY BILLUPS gave Bush a basketball signed by the team and a Pistons jersey with the number “04” and the name “Bush.” In Detroit, Deb Price notes Bush called Pistons Owner BILL DAVIDSON “a great civic leader,” and referred to Pistons President of Basketball Operations JOE DUMARS as “Mr. President” (DETROIT NEWS, 2/1).

President Bush Hosts NBA Champion Pistons At White House

HELPING HANDS: The RED SOX FOUNDATION, the ESPLANADE ASSOCIATION, HILL HOUSE, and Massachusetts Gov. MITT ROMNEY are planning a $1.2M renovation of the baseball fields along the Charles River, which will be renamed TEDDY EBERSOL’S RED SOX FIELDS after the late son of NBC Universal Sports & Olympics Chair DICK EBERSOL. Red Sox Chair TOM WERNER, a longtime friend of Dick Ebersol, is “the prime mover” in the project (Beggy & Shanahan, BOSTON GLOBE, 2/1)....The ARTHUR M. BLANK FOUNDATION has donated $1.15M to the Atlanta-based TRUST FOR PUBLIC LAND, a nonprofit conservation group pushing to build the Belt Line, an intown transit project. The foundation will donate another $1.35M when “an additional $5[M] is raised from other sources in support of the Belt Line” (ATLANTA CONSTITUTION, 2/1).

SCREEN PASSES: The HOLLYWOOD REPORTER’s Borys Kit reports DreamWorks has picked up “BLADES OF GLORY,” a comedy about “a pair of world-class men’s figure skaters who are banned from the sport following their disgraceful brawl during the Winter Games in Salt Lake City.” The film will be produced by Red Hour Films’ BEN STILLER and STUART CORNFELD, along with First Entertainment’s JOHN JACOBS. The story was written by brothers JEFF and CRAIG COX, two first-time writers. Stiller is not attached to star (HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, 2/1)....Aspen Ski Co. instructor BEN SANDS was eliminated during last night’s edition of ABC’s “The Bachelorette,” making him the final person involved in the sports industry to be eliminated from the show (“The Bachelorette,” ABC, 1/31).