Minneapolis-based retailer Best Buy Co., Inc. has promoted Dave Williams to senior vice president, customer centricity.
Wilmington, Del.-based financial services company Wilmington Trust Corporation has added Susan D. Whiting to its board of directors. Whiting is president and CEO of Nielsen Media Research and executive vice president, VNU Media Measurement and Information.
Cheskin, a Redwood Shores, Calif., research firm, has named Jim Martin executive vice president, business development director in its New York office.
Deborah Klein Walker, a principal associate in the health policy and clinical research division of Cambridge, Mass., research firm Abt Associates, has been named president-elect of the American Public Health Association. After serving in this position during 2006, she will continue as president in 2007.
New York PR firm Burson-Marsteller has named Mark Penn, founding partner and president of research and strategic communications firm Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates (PSB), as worldwide CEO. PSB will become a stand-alone division of Burson-Marsteller, reporting to Penn.
Millward Brown has appointed Surekha Poddar to head its customer loyalty management business in Asia Pacific. At Millward Brown USA, Fairfield, Conn., James Cummings has been promoted to vice president.
John J. Lewis has been named president and CEO of ACNielsen U.S.A., Schaumburg, Ill.
Netherlands-based information firm VNU has named Steven M. Schmidt president and CEO of its marketing information group, which includes firms such as ACNielsen, BASES, Spectra, Claritas and ACNielsen HCI.
London-based Research Now has promoted Fiorella Calderon Boza to client development manager for the Spanish market.
GfK Healthcare Asia has named Keren Priyadarshini director of healthcare in Singapore.
Alex Kormushoff has joined Chicago-based SPSS as senior vice president of worldwide services.
Research firm TNS Healthcare, New York, has formed a new business development organization and named Bill Romania to lead it. He will continue in his current role as COO of TNS Healthcare, North America, expanding his responsibilities to include business development and client relationship management in the U.S.
MarketTools, Inc., San Francisco, has appointed Jeff Greenberg president of worldwide operations. The firm has also named Pamela S. Kramer chief marketing officer and W. Michael Conklin chief methodologist.
Brian Compare has been named vice president of programming and marketing research at Court TV.
New York researcher FIND/SVP has named Rich Forzani vice president of sales and Jack Foreman vice president of product and channel development.
John Markham and Gaye Myatt are two of the newest members of the Independent Consultants Group, a U.K.-based organization of independent research consultants, having left their corporate jobs at Nokia and GlaxoSmithKline, respectively, to become independent consultants.
Arbitron Inc., New York, has named Sandra London national account manager for Arbitron’s advertiser marketing services. She will work out of her Milford, Conn., office. In addition, Arbitron has named Polly Deen account manager for its advertiser agency services. She will work out of the Dallas office. Separately, Arbitron has reorganized the responsibilities of two executives in order to speed the commercialization of the Portable People Meter audience measurement system. Owen Charlebois has been named president, operations, technology, research and development, and Pierre Bouvard has been appointed president, sales and marketing.
Seattle-based Alaska Airlines has named Greg Latimer managing director of brand and product marketing, a newly created position overseeing a range of marketing functions, including consumer research.
Robin Feuerstein has succeeded Ron Sugarman, who has retired as senior vice president and director of New York-based Interpublic’s Center of Marketing Intelligence.
R.L. Polk & Co. has named four executives to European management positions, adding Kendra Rawls as managing director, R.L. Polk Europe; Dominic Clare as director, product strategy, R.L. Polk Europe; Todd Fleischhauer as country director, United Kingdom; and Markus Frömgen as country director, Germany.
Daniel E. Hess has been named vice president/strategic marketing at Chicago-based Tribune Interactive.
InsightExpress, a Stamford, Conn., research firm, has named Lora Feinman senior account executive, a new position within the company’s online ad effectiveness group. Suzanne Hasbrouck has joined the firm’s media and custom panels group as online media project manager. In addition, Lisa Fanthorpe-White has been named customer service representative. She will be located in San Francisco. And Barbara Wade has been named director within the company’s consumer packaged goods sector.
G & S Research, Carmel, Ind., has named Randy Boon and Yong Zhuge analytics manager. In addition, Bonnie Renner has been named human resources manager.
Chicago-based Synovate has added senior-level research executives to its multicultural business, naming Everett Hernandez senior vice president and general manager; Steve Moylan vice president; Denise Marks vice president, research studies; and Anna Marie Lopez in-person project field services director. Separately, Synovate has named Ged Parton global strategy development director. He will initially be based at Synovate’s Glasshouse office in London.
Randy Frantz has joined Redlands, Calif.-based geographic information system firm ESRI as manager of telecommunications industry solutions.
Tim Ressmeyer has been appointed to lead Chicago research firm Mintel International’s U.S. custom solutions team.
The Center for Multicultural Competence in Healthcare Organizations (CMCHO), Cincinnati, has named Kathleen Gallon vice president of operations. She will be responsible for developing, executing and managing the survey process for CMCHO, a company which certifies hospitals in multicultural competencies.