Education

CHICAGO — SymphonyIRI Group Inc., a provider of innovative solutions and services for consumer, retail and healthcare companies, has named Beverly Grant as president of retail solutions. She will report to Mark Parise, president of IRI, SymphonyIRI.

Washington, D.C. -- According to the National Retail Federation and BIGinsight’s 2012 Back-to-School survey, families with school and college-aged students as of Aug. 7 say they have more than half of their shopping lists to complete.

The average person with children in grades K-12 has completed 40.1% of their shopping, while college shoppers and their families have completed slightly more at 45.3%.

Overall, school and college shoppers this year are expected to spend a total of $83.8 billion.

HERSHEY, Pa. and SAN FRANCISCO — The Hershey Company recently partnered with the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, Calif. to provide students with a hands-on package-design opportunity. Students were asked to create a customized heart box design for Hershey's Pot of Gold chocolates to help give the collection a contemporary, fresh look for the 2013 Valentine's Day season.

CHICAGO — Walgreens on Saturday will be hosting its first Mobile Photo Hack Day — a contest between mobile photo application developers in creating a "groundbreaking" application using Walgreens' QuickPrints SDK.

All entries will be reviewed by a panel of notable judges:

• Kobie Hatcher, solutions director at AIM Consulting, a technology solutions and services company providing resources in flexible configurations;

BOCA RATON, Fla. — Office Depot is sponsoring the 2012 Do Something Awards, which will air Tuesday, Aug. 21 at 9:00pm ET on VH1.

Hosted by "New Girl" stars Jake Johnson, Emmy-nominated Max Greenfield and Lamorne Morris, the ceremony will honor and celebrate the nation’s best young world-changers who represent the pivotal “do-ers” in their field, cause or issue.

ATLANTA — Ignacio Perez Lizaur, who lead Walmart's expansion into Latin America as director general Sam's Club Mexico in 1991, has joined Newell Rubbermaid's board of directors.

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. — Kmart is responding to changing trends affecting the "back-to-school" experience with a number initiatives designed to meet the needs of its consumers.

According to Kmart, more public schools are requiring uniforms and others are now adopting a year-round school calendar. In response, Kmart has adjusted its approach to back-to-school by increasing the number of stores that sell uniforms and aligning its back-to-school sales periods by region to match that of the local school districts.

Hoffman Estates, Ill. -- Kmart is responding to changing trends affecting the "back-to-school" experience with a number initiatives designed to meet the needs of its consumers.

According to Kmart, more public schools are requiring uniforms and others are now adopting a year-round school calendar. In response, Kmart has adjusted its approach to back-to-school by increasing the number of stores that sell uniforms and aligning its back-to-school sales periods by region to match that of the local school districts.