Don Knowles, a veteran of distribution throughout Canada, will retire at the end of 2005 from his position as president of idi Independent Distributors Inc.

Knowles has been with idi since 1991 and has overseen the cooperative's growth to more than 200 locations throughout Canada, with suppliers whose combined sales now exceed $1 billion.

Prior to working at idi, Knowles worked at Uniroyal, Smith Belting (later called Multi Power Ltd.) and PTM Industries.

Knowles will continue to work on a 15- to 20-hour a week consultancy basis for idi, according to idi chairman Mark Levac.