Industry News
Jonti-Craft has hired Lisa Lewin as its new senior buyer and planner. Lewin will be responsible for procuring raw materials required for the manufacture of Jonti-Craft’s products, managing supplier relationships and negotiations, and improving inventory management and planning. She has more than 16 years of direct experience and most recently held the title of senior buyer for Hutchinson Manufacturing.
Arts and crafts marketing and product development company i3 Marketing will be representing Jones Tones in the educational supply market.
“Jones Tones’ quality product line of paints, glitters, foils and iron-on number and letter kits has been a success for years in the craft and hobby market. We are positive that the educational and after-school markets will be impressed with their value-added brand,” said Joel Goobich, president of i3 Marketing.
In addition to Jones Tones branded products, the company offers an affordable private label (OEM) program. For more information visit www.i3marketing.com.
Arizona State University (ASU) has completed an extensive licensing agreement with McNeill Designs for Brighter Minds, allowing ASU’s intellectual property management company, Arizona Technology Enterprises (AzTE), to develop an online version of the game You’ve Been Sentenced for use in classrooms. It will allow students to play with peers from other classrooms, schools and even foreign countries in real time. AzTE has also developed an interactive whiteboard format for classroom use and expanded the subject matter to include history, foreign languages and science.
Since its creation in 2005, You’ve Been Sentenced has won several awards, including the Creative Child Magazine Seal of Excellence 2007, the Spewgie Award for Best Family Fun Game 2007 from www.spewgilist.com, a game review site, and a National Parenting Seal of Approval.
The interactive whiteboard version of You’ve Been Sentenced is scheduled to launch at the National Educational Computing Conference in Washington, D.C.
Kulics Sales and Marketing is now representing Shapes Etc. in the educational market. Shapes Etc. offers a selection of notepads, calendars, cutouts, incentive charts and Vacation Bible School product, all made in the USA. Dave and Kay Kulics will represent Shapes Etc. in Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Oklahoma and Ontario, Canada.
Seth Kulics will represent the company in Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin. For product literature, samples, “how-to” sheets, product ideas and more, call 800-576-9901.
American Mensa, the high IQ society, has announced the 2009 recipients of the Mensa Select seal. The winning games are chosen annually at the Mensa Mind Games competition, during which the organization’s members play and rate new board and card games. The five games that rate the highest are named Mensa Select. For more information, visit www.mindgames.us.mensa.org.
This year’s winners are:
• Cornerstone, from Good Company Games– A 3-D strategy game requiring a steady hand and clever mind in order to build, climb and race to the top before it all comes tumbling down. For more information, visit www.goodcompanygames.com
• Dominion, from Rio Grande Games – Players compete to create the best deck of cards by buying action (10 of 25 possible each game), treasure, and victory cards. The deck with the most victory points wins. For more information, call 505-771-8813.
• Marrakech, from Fundex Games – Each player takes the role of a salesperson who tries to outwit the others. Roll the dice, move Assam, and determine whether you must make a payment to lay a rug. For more information, visit www.fundexgames.com.
• Stratum, from Family Games – Following the layering laws, each player tries to cover up his opponent’s pieces. The player with most exposed pieces wins. For more information, visit www.familygamesamerica.com.
• Tic-Tac-Ku, from Mad Cave Bird Games – This exciting twist on the age-old favorite features nine playing areas. Each player determines in which playing area his opponent may play while attempting to win the most playing areas. For more information, visit www.colorku.com.
BioFit Engineered Products, an Ohio-based manufacturer of ergonomic seating solutions, has promoted Rusty Benschoter to the position of national sales and marketing manager. In this role, Benschoter will lead BioFit’s U.S. and Canadian sales initiatives.
Benschoter came to BioFit in 2005 from the Eaton Corporation. Since joining BioFit, he has served as the central U.S. and eastern Canada regional sales supervisor and has been instrumental in the successful launch of several new products and in growing the company’s folding mobile table division.
Benschoter replaces Max Church, who will remain on staff part-time, assisting with the transition, participating in sales calls on an ad hoc basis, and overseeing lead qualification and state contract sales.
To learn more about BioFit, visit www.biofit.com or call 800-597-0246.
Betsy Day Plowman has joined Gryphon House as its new marketing manager. She was the senior marketing manager at Hyperion Books and marketing manager at HarperCollins Children’s Books before joining Gryphon House.
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