Bill Tompkins, a former president and chief executive of the National Newspaper Association, has been named chief operating officer of the Rockville-based Montgomery County Economic Development Corp.
In a statement, the group said Tompkins is “a results-driven executive whose experience will help strengthen MCEDC’s economic development role in Montgomery County.”
Tomkins also has had management roles Eastman Kodak and The Washington Post.
Grocer is first to test robots in regional stores
Giant Food Stores in parts of Maryland will soon be welcoming new employees, though not the human kind.
The company’s Retail Business Services units has announced a partnership with Badger Technologies to bring nearly 500 robots to area stores in an effort to improve efficiency.
The robots identify spills and other messes then alert human associates to address the problem. This allows staff more freedom to interact with customers.
Named “Marty,” the robots have already completed successful trial runs and deployment is currently underway.
Retail Business Services is an arm of Ahold Delhaize USA, which operates six grocery brands along the East Coast, including both Giant Food Stores and Giant Food of Maryland.
Montgomery County stores fall under Giant Food of Maryland, which are expected to be added as the initiative gains traction.
“These things typically get rolled out in phases,” said Jeff Metzger, publisher of the industry trade publication Food World.
The grocery industry has been slow to adopt new technology but has taken steps to attract the emerging customer group of millennials, Metzger said. This includes innovations such as home delivery, grocery ordering services and personalized shopping lists.
Maryland’s jobless rate dips to 3.9 percent
Strong hiring in the professional and business services, and education and health services sectors helped push the Maryland unemployment rate to 3.9 percent last month, matching the federal jobless rate, the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday.
Maryland added 4,900 jobs in December, the ninth month of job growth.
There were job losses in financial activities and insurance, real estate and rental and leasing sectors that were offset by new hires in other sectors, BLS said.
Marriott’s human trafficking awareness campaign trains 500,000 employees
Bethesda-based Marriott International announced Friday it has reached a milepost in its year-old campaign to train hotel workers to spot the signs of human trafficking in its hotels.
The company said 500,000 workers have completed training, which it said was “a watershed moment in the global fight against this multinational crime.”
January is National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month.
