Ronald named honorary member (04/12/08)

Jack Ronald, editor and publisher of The Commercial Review, has been inducted as an honorary member of Asociatiei Presei Independente (API), an association of independent newspapers in Moldova.

Ronald was one of three Americans and one Pole named as API's first honorary members in the history of the organization.

Also named honorary members were Judy Yablonky, a Paris-based American journalist who helped found API when she was a Knight Fellow in Moldova in 1997; Phoenix attorney Mark Chernoff, who consulted with many of the API newspapers in their earliest years when he was a Peace Corps volunteer; and Piotr Marciniak, former Polish ambassador to Moldova who now coordinates a Polish center for the promotion of democracy in Eastern Europe.

Ronald first worked with API newspapers when he was a Fulbright Scholar in Moldova in 1998.

He returned to Moldova on behalf of the U.S. Information Agency in 1999, conducted a newspaper management seminar for API in 2006 at the request of the State Department, and conducted a seminar in March at the School of Advanced Journalism in Chisinau, Moldova's capital.

The four honorary members were elected at API's annual meeting last week. Twenty-one newspapers that have no political affiliations are members of API.

New CEO

Franklin Electric Company has a new chief financial officer and secretary.

John Haines has replaced Tom Strupp as CEO of the Bluffton-based company. Strupp stepped down to focus on the growing business segment.

Haines has worked as managing director and chief executive of HSBC Auto Finance and has held several executive and financial positions with General Electric Company.

Strupp plans to focus on his position as president of Franklin Electric's water transfer systems business.

SAP accused of deceit

Waste Management Inc. has accused SAP Ag of using practices to sell its software.

The company is suing SAP for $100 million, plus punitive damages for software purchased by Waste Management to manage its waste removal and recycling business.

Waste Management officials recently told The Wall Street Journal that the software maker said it had a "mature" and "proven" product for the job. In demonstrations, Waste Management allegedly believed that it was looking at the finished product, when it was only a mock-up.

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