IHL nabs industry veteran

Nashville, Tenn. -- IHL Group has added a noted retail technology analyst with nearly 30 years of experience to its ranks.



Jeff Roster is joining IHL in the new position of VP of retail strategy. He will oversee IHL's retailer engagement, vendor briefings and strategic IT services practice.



"Jeff comes to IHL with significant experience as a retail analyst and comes held a variety of positions spanning several industries over the course of his career," said Greg Buzek, president of IHL Group. "His extensive knowledge of retail, background in company briefings and his broad personal relationships with many of our clients will be extremely valuable to IHL as we continue to serve our retail and vendor clients."



Most recently, Roster served as VP Industries - Retail for Gartner, where he was responsible for communicating global IT trends in the retail, wholesale and consumer product industries, analyzes end-user requirements, and consulting on strategies with IT vendor clients. He also received the coveted Gartner Thought Leadership award for IT research.



Before joining Gartner, Roster worked in logistics and process improvement for Mervyn's. As an operations manager, he developed benchmarking and total quality management initiatives, as well as operational budget analyses.



Roster serves on the board of advisors for Retail Orphan Initiative.