Artificial Intelligence

Brian Michon was named chief technology officer at Cartera Commerce, a Boston-based provider of card-based marketing solutions for merchants, banks and loyalty programs.

In his new role at Cartera, Michon, a former vp of engineering at Intuit, is expected to drive Cartera’s card-linked offer technology strategy and lead the company’s development, operations and solution delivery teams.

Jim Farrell has joined Stratacache’s interactive media subsidiary enVu to lead the sales effort for a new gestural ad network with intriguing retail applications.

Farrell will be responsible for building and overseeing the sales efforts for enVu’s five North American sales regions including Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Detroit and will focus on cultivating a successful sales and customer service team.

General Motors’ director of information technology, Kim Clower, and Walmart vp of strategy for innovation, governanance and communications are keynote speakers for the 9th annual Women in IT Conference.

The event, presented by the Information Technology Research Institute at the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas, will focus on celebrating innovation and developing opportunities for women in technology. It will be held at the Donald W. Reynolds Center for Enterprise Development on the University of Arkansas campus in Fayetteville, Ar.

MALIBU, Calif. — Toy maker Jakks Pacific reported that net sales for the fourth quarter of 2012 were $133.5 million, compared with $141.1 million reported in the comparable period in 2011.

The reported net loss for the fourth quarter was $119.5 million, or $5.45 per diluted share. This compares with a net loss of $20 million, or 77 cents per diluted share.

NEW YORK -- Google is looking to extend its presence in the retail space, by opening freestanding stores in the United States.

According to a report by online site 9to5Google, the first flagship locations will open in time for the 2013 holiday shopping season.

“Google feels right now that many potential customers need to get hands-on experience with its products before they are willing to purchase," the website reported.

By Gregg Brunnick, [email protected]

Tyler, Texas -- Brookshire Grocery Co. recently became one of a select number of grocery retailers nation-wide to join the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s GreenChill partnership, which works with supermarkets to reduce refrigerant emissions and decrease their impact on the ozone layer and climate change.

New York — Findings released Tuesday by PricewaterhouseCoopers showed that top-performing companies typically have demonstrated strong collaboration between the corner office and the CIO.

According to PwC’s Digital IQ survey, companies with strong, collaborative relationships between the CIO and other c-suite executives are four times as likely to be top-performing companies as those with fragmented relationships.

NEW YORK — With Toy Fair happening now in New York City, the Toy Industry Association has revealed what it believes are the top toy trends for 2013. 

ROSEVILLE, Calif. -- Revionics a leading provider of end-to-end merchandise optimization solutions, has entered into a channel partnership agreement with Supply Nexus, a solutions provider specializing in the design and implementation of multichannel distribution and supply chain management solutions. This channel partnership will offer the Spain and Portugal retail markets Revionics end-to-end merchandise optimization solutions.