For the Week of January 22nd

Management Changes:

WD Partners (Columbus, Ohio, design firm) has hired Margie Goebel as director, learning and development.

Best Tile Distributors of New England (Ludlow, Mass., provider of ceramic tile) has hired Jane Boynton as vp, sales, for its recently acquired Boston Tile showroom in Warwick, R.I.

The National Retail Federation (NRF, Washington, D.C., retail trade association) has appointed the following to its board of directors: Ralph Alvarez, president and coo, McDonald’s Corp.; Claudio Del Vecchio, chairman and ceo, Retail Brand Alliance; Robert DiNicola, chairman and ceo, Linens ’n Things Inc.; Roger Farah, president and coo, Polo Ralph Lauren Corp.; George Jones, president and ceo, Borders Group Inc.; Michael Rousseau, president, Hudson’s Bay Co.; Carl Rubin, president North American retail, Office Depot Inc.; Philip Schoonover, ceo, Circuit City Stores Inc.; James Wright, president and ceo, Tractor Supply Co.; Jan de Jong, worldwide global industry manager, retail, Microsoft Corp. NRF also appointed Peter Burrows chairman of its CIO Council. Burrows is senior vp and cio, Adidas America.

Business Briefs:

Pro Image Installers Inc. (Navarre, Fla., fixture and graphics provider) has been selected by Marc Ecko Enterprises Inc. (New York specialty clothing retailer) to install fixture and graphics for its Ecko Ultd., G-Unit, Avirex, Marc Ecko Collection and Zoo York brands.

NEC Display Solutions of America Inc. (Itasca, Ill., provider of LCD displays) has partnered with Cisco Systems Inc. (San Jose, Calif., provider of networking solutions) to offer a quick, standardized way for retailers and public venues to deploy digital signs and remotely manage content.

Access Display Group Inc./Swingframe Mfg. Mfg. (Freeport, N.Y., manufacturer of signage and p-o-p solutions) has printed its first free catalog that features 56 pages of display products.

Bandit Lites (Knoxville, Tenn., provider of entertainment lighting) has designed lighting for the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series Awards Ceremony in New York.

Retex (Valley Stream, N.Y., retail technology and business solutions buying consortium) has partnered with EasyLink Services Corp. (Piscataway, N.J., provider of electronic data interchange solutions, EDI) to provide Retex members with EDI services that will enhance their current capabilities.

Awards:

Boxlight Corp. (Poulsbo, Wash., projector manufacturer) has received the Cherry Picks Award for its BumbleBee and ProjectoWrite projectors at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) International Tradeshow.

Hoffman Communications Inc. (Minneapolis video production and live staging event company) has announced Dianna Fuller, cmp and marketing director, was named 2006 Hall of Fame Best Supplier by Minnesota Meetings & Events magazine.