Read-Rite, independent manufacturer of recording heads, head gimbal assemblies (HGAs), and head stack assemblies (HSAs) for disk drives and magnetoresistive (MR) heads for quarter-inch-cartridge tape drives, has appointed Alan J. Shannon vice president, information systems. Shannon will take charge of Read-Rite's three-year, $20 million program to implement an information systems technology strategy, joining the company from Electronic Data Systems, where he was global infrastructure services division director.