Fort Worth Business Press, June 2, 2014 Vol. 26, No. 22

32 June 9 - 15, 2014 | fwbusinesspress.com RadioShack in partnership to speed startups WEEK INREVIEW News briefs from the previous week. R adioShack Labs, a new marketing collaboration between Fort Worth-based retailer RadioShack and product development firm PCH International, has launched to help emerging companies and inventors bring their innovations to market. In an effort to rejuvenate its retail offerings, RadioShack announced June 5 it will offer select PCH Access companies special retail terms, and create a direct path to up to 2,000 RadioShack stores and preferred positioning on radioshack.com. With PCH, RadioShack plans to implement a directto-store model for select products, reducing inventory requirements and increasing inventory turn in stores. RadioShack Labs is designed to enable innovative startups to sell to a significant market and will provide consumer awareness through marketing promotion as well as strong retail and online presence, according to the company.. These products will have a dedicated space in-store by the end of the year, according to the company.. “It’s long been our belief that innovation and collaboration go hand-in-hand. As we transform RadioShack, it’s important that we simplify and streamline the channels that encourage inventors and entrepreneurs to join us in the retail environment,” said Joe Magnacca, chief executive officer of RadioShack. “We see so many exciting consumer products coming from startups and we want these differentiated products in our stores.” By later summer, consumers should see products such as LittleBits, a modular electronics kit, as part of the new venture. Officials with both RadioShack and PCH International said the goal of the partnership is to identify dozens of new products per year, and to use the PCH Access program to turn concepts into products ready for national retail. - Betty Dillard Walter Dansby, who resigned as Fort Worth Independent School District Superintendent on June 2, will receive $662,398 as part of his separation agreement with the district. Dansby will also be employed by the district through Jan. 31, 2015 and collect a salary of about $185 per hour as the “ambassador of public relations,” a newly created position. That will bring his overall financial compensation to about $900,000. Dansby voluntary resigned on June 2 following a four-hour, closed door session called to discuss his job performance. The resignation was accepted in a 6-3 vote Dansby by the Fort Worth ISD’s board. In a letter to the community on the Fort Worth ISD website, Dansby wrote: “This is one of the hardest messages I’ve ever had to write. As you all know by now, last night the Board accepted my resignation as superintendent of the Fort Worth ISD. After 40 years work- courtesy photo Fort Worth ISD sets terms of Dansby’s departure RadioShack Labs and product development firm PCH International will help emerging companies and inventors bring their innovations to market. ing for this District – as a teacher, coach, administrator, and finally as superintendent -- it’s nearly impossible to summarize all I am feeling right now. So I am going to choose to focus on one overwhelming feeling – gratitude.” Hank Johnson, deputy superintendent of business, finance and operations for the district, resigned on June 4. He was directly responsible fo r all financial matters, transportation, child nutrition, staffing, and maintenance and facility operations. He joined Fort Worth ISD in December 2009 as the chief finance officer. He was promoted to deputy superintendent by Dansby in 2011. “The decision to move to the next stage of my life was decided in early April,” Johnson said in a news release. “With the change in district leadership I thought it prudent to announce my intentions now.” - Staff reports American to build new operations center near headquarters American Airlines Group Inc. plans to break ground in the next 30 days on a new Integrated Operations Control center near its Fort Worth headquarters, the company said June 4 in a letter to employees. According to the letter, American plans to open the new center by third quarter 2015. The new center is part of the airlines consolidation of its operations from Pittsburgh to Fort Worth. The new center will See in review u NEXT PAGE

Fort Worth Business Press, June 2, 2014 Vol. 26, No. 22 | Page 32