Purchasing wants to honor MRO purchasing pros by awarding them with a spot on its All-Star MRO Buy Team for 2008. Nominate MRO buyers who demonstrate excellence at managing relationships with suppliers or have come up with innovative ways to reduce cost by sending a note to savery@reedbusiness.com, or call Susan Avery at (781) 734-8204.

American Express is acquiring GE Corporate Payment Services, GE's commercial card and corporate purchasing business unit for $1.1 billion in cash. Corporate Payment Services' products are similar to those offered by American Express' commercial card business, which handles the travel, entertainment and purchasing spending by employees of large corporations and mid-sized companies. The sale also includes GE's patented vPayment technology.

W.W. Grainger has announced that as part of the company's planned succession process, James T. Ryan, Grainger's president, will add the title and responsibilities of CEO effective June 1. He is succeeding Richard L. Keyser, who remains chairman. Ryan was named COO and appointed to the board of directors in February 2007. He became president of Grainger in 2006.

Graybar's new security solutions catalog features more than 1,400 products from 44 brand-name suppliers in six categories: surveillance, access control, intrusion, audiovisual notification, cabling, installation and tools and fire systems. Graybar is based in St. Louis.