For the Week of August 15th

Management Changes:

RTKL (Baltimore architecture firm) announced that Ronald Turner has joined its Los Angeles office as a vp in charge of the firm's stadium and arena portfolio. Turner leads a team that includes new principals Jonathan Emmett and Eric Randolph.

FAME (Minneapolis retail brand agency) has hired Susan Gingery as controller. Gingery was previously a corporate financial analyst at Jostens.

Horton Lees Brogden Lighting Design (New York and Los Angeles) has hired the following designers: Heather Lion, New York office; and Darcie O'Connor and Jason Groob, Los Angeles office.

Simply Retail (Minneapolis healthcare retail consulting firm) has hired Ken Martin as director, production and technology.

Western Graphtec Inc. (Irvine, Calif.) has appointed Neal Baessler product manager, cutter/plotter division; Charlie Yang, product manager, inkjet printer line; and Hisashi Araki, product manager, scanner line.

MBH Architects (Alameda, Calif., and Newport Beach, Calif.) has the promoted P.J. Cosgrove, Kevin Albaugh, and Gus Awayjan to associates and Tom Pflueger, David Delasantos and Celso Rivera to senior associates. Also, the firm has hired the following: Lucie Lee, Jenny Yin and Amanda Leung, drafters, specialty retail studio; Julia Chia, drafter, restaurant studio; and Karla Cerezores, job captain, retail studio.

PropART/duPont Design Inc. (San Diego manufacturer of point-of-purchase displays) has appointed Bill Gerber director, sales and marketing; Debbie Rampick, general manager; Yuttana Chiaravalloti, director, design; and Srdjan Simic, director, new product design.

Associations:

The National Retail Federation (NRF, Washington, D.C.) announced that Joan Manson has been named chairperson of the NRF Women in Loss Prevention Caucus. Manson is director, loss prevention, The Container Store (Coppell, Texas).

Business Briefs:

ShopKo Stores Inc. (Green Bay, Wis.) has set a special meeting of shareholders for Sept. 14, 2005, to vote on its proposed merger with an affiliate of Goldner Hawn Johnson & Morrison (Minneapolis private equity investment firm).

Callison (Seattle architectural firm) has opened an office at 1453 Third St. Promenade, Ste. 400, Santa Monica, CA 90401. Phone: 310-394-8460; fax: 310-394-4970.

Arena Media Networks (New York) is installing a network of large, high-definition flat-panel digital displays that will run advertising and content during sports and concert events at the Toyota Center in Houston.

Panasonic Corporate Systems (Secaucus, N.J., provider of video systems) has entered a strategic relationship with Audio Enhancement (Bluffdale, Utah, designer and installer of audio systems for classrooms).

Vista System Intl. (Sarasota, Fla., sign-frame manufacturer) has launched www.vista-healthcare.com, a web site offering information on signage suppliers and systems for the healthcare and medical sectors.

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC, Washington, D.C) has filed an application to become an American National Standards Institute-accredited national standards developer for green building practices.

Awards:

FRCH Design Worldwide (Cincinnati) won awards for the following projects in Cincinnati Magazine's Third Annual Interior Design Competition: Kentucky Fried Chicken, commercial singular space category; Eastgate Mall, Goofy's Candy Co. Kitchen and Cincinnati Mills, retail category; and Corbett Opera Center expansion at Music Hall, commercial space over 3,500 square feet category.

DigiPoS Systems (Burlington, Ont., point-of-service systems provider) announced that its “Retail Blade” technology was named the 2005 Global Technology Innovation Award, Global Partner of the Year by Microsoft Corp. (Redmond, Wash.).