Labor & Employment

HARTFORD, Conn. — Cantor Colburn, a leading intellectual property law firm, has hired partner Daniel Chung, former chief trademark counsel at Johnson & Johnson.

Chung has more than 20 years of experience in all aspects of trademark and copyright counseling, enforcement, strategy and portfolio management, having held senior counsel positions at several multinational global corporations and having worked in private practice.  

Washington, D.C. -- The retail industry, the nation’s largest private sector employer, added 29,000 jobs in April, indicating that retailers are seeing signs of an improving economy, and as a result, added to their payrolls heading into the summer, according to the National Retail Federation.

Still, the NRF sounded a cautious note.

CARY, N.C. — The Pantry, a leading independently operated convenience store chain in the southeastern U.S., has appointed former Dollar General executive Kathleen Guion to its board of directors.

New York -- Employees show increased levels of anxiety about their income, benefits and security, according to a new poll from Harris Interactive. Aggregated concern about these three issues rose from 56% in March to 57% in April.

DALLAS — Kimberly-Clark will award college scholarships totaling $1.26 million to 63 children of K-C employees across 17 states and Canada as part of its Bright Futures program.

Bright Futures scholarship grants are worth up to $20,000, or $5,000 per school year, for full-time students attending accredited colleges and universities. Since its inception, the program has awarded more than $35 million in scholarships to more than 1,800 students.

Pittsburgh -- Dick’s Sporting Goods has named Andre J. Hawaux as executive VP of finance and administration and CFO. He will oversee finance, legal, strategic planning and risk and compliance.

Hawaux has more than 30 years of experience as a retail/CPG executive, most recently as president of consumer foods at ConAgra Foods. He has also served in different executive roles in several divisions of PepsiCo.

Walmart’s commitment earlier this year to hire 100,000 veterans over the next five years prompted the USO to award Walmart U.S. COO Gisel Ruiz its 2013 Woman of the Year Distinguished Service Award.

Ruiz was presented with the award at the USO’s 47th annual luncheon where she said the honor was humbling and a surprise.