By Amy Antenora

The Week in Review offers a snapshot of the most highly read stories of the week as seen on aftermarketNews. To access the complete stories, simply click on the highlighted links. If you missed reading one of our daily news emails, just click on the link that says "News Archives" at the bottom of the page to begin catching up on the latest industry news. 

Three of our top stories this week share the news of changes within the executive ranks of several major aftermarket companies.

Auto parts retailer Advance Auto Parts made several new executive appointments this week. Kevin Wiederhold joins Advance as vice president, human resources. He comes from Home Depot, where he’s worked since 2002 in multiple positions with increasing responsibility including regional human resources director, compensation manager and staffing operations manager.

Advance has also announced the appointments of Rick Maynard as regional vice president, supply chain and Joyce Maruniak as vice president, supply chain development. Prior to joining Advance, Maynard most recently served as director of supply chain with Home Depot Direct. He was previously with Best Buy, where he held multiple positions with increasing responsibilities during his tenure. Maruniak most recently served as senior vice president of operations for The Sharper Image Co. She was previously employed by Best Buy as vice president, supply chain solutions. Advance President and CEO Darren Jackson, who joined the company last November, also comes from Best Buy.

And in a rather interesting turn, a former AutoZone exec has joined General Parts Inc. this week. Jerry Colley has been named executive vice president, store group reporting directly to President O. Temple Sloan, III. Colley was vice president of stores and senior vice president of customer satisfaction for AutoZone at its Memphis, Tenn., headquarters, where he was in charge of 3,000 stores, and led the acquisitions of 108 Auto Palace stores, 90 Pep Boys Express stores and 500 Chief Auto Parts stores. He also served as executive vice president of operations for Tire Kingdom in Riviera Beach, Fla., where he managed all facets of 150 retail stores, including client relations, business development and financial management.

Affinia Group has done some more upper management shuffling, making two VP appointments. Bill Sheehan has been named vice president of sales for global filtration, reporting to Keith Wilson, president of global filtration; and Tom Rafferty has been named vice president of sales for global brake & chassis reporting to David Overbeeke, president of global brake & chassis. Both bringing more than 25 years of experience to their new roles, Sheehan previously served as vice president of Affinia’s WIX branded products; and Rafferty was previously director of program distribution for Affinia’s brake and chassis business.

Another top news item this week announced a new partnership between Activant Solutions and eBay Motors. Activant and eBay Motors will collaborate in developing a new electronic catalog, which will utilize Activant’s set of replacement parts data – including Activant Cover-to-Cover graphical eCatalog content. In addition to its role in providing data to help enhance the eBay Motors buying experience, Activant offers a solution that assists automotive parts distributors, jobbers and other volume sellers in leveraging eBay Motors to sell slow-moving, obsolete, hard-to-find and specialty parts. The new e-cat is scheduled to launch in 2009.

The final story in our roundup of most-viewed news items features Schnitzer Steel’s recent acquisition of three self-service used auto parts businesses located in Little Rock, Ark., and San Antonio, Texas. The company purchased the assets and business of U-Pull-It Auto Parts, U-Pull-It Jacksonville and Roosevelt U-Pull-It, which were previously owned and operated by Gary Johnson. According to Tom Klauer, president of the Auto Parts Business, the acquisition of these three facilities represents an important step in the growth of the company’s auto parts business.

To view all of the news from the past week, simply click here to view our News Archives.