• Royal Caribbean Cruises has promoted executive vice president of revenue performance Brian Rice to chief financial officer. Rice will replace Luis Leon, who will retire as CFO after three years with the company. Leon will help with the transition, which is expected to be completed before the end of 2006.
• Gary Wolff has resigned as chief financial officer and director of AquaCell Technologies, effective October 30. On Tuesday, after his resignation, Wolff pleaded guilty in a Manhattan federal court to making a misleading or false statement to an auditor, in connection with an audit of the water cooler company’s 2001 financial statement, according to a company press release.
• BKF Capital Group has announced that Clarke Gray, senior vice president and chief financial officer, has resigned, effective June 30, 2007, and will serve as a consultant through next September. The company says Gray’s resignation, and that of its CEO this January, will conserve BKF’s cash.
• First Marblehead has announced that John Hupalo will succeed Donald Peck as senior vice president and chief financial officer. Peck, who according to the company is pursuing other opportunities, will help during the transition through the end of the year.
• Olena Paslawsky has been named senior vice president and chief financial officer of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Previously, she was controller of the worldwide securities division of JP Morgan Chase & Co. She has also worked at Prudential Financial divisions as a controller and CFO.
• Wayne Bailey has taken over the role of Liberty Diversified Holdings’ chief financial officer from acting CFO Mario Ramirez, who will remain with the company as vice president of manufacturing acquisitions and subsidiaries. Bailey, who will also serve on Liberty’s board of directors, founded AIM Plastics and has served as the chief operating officer and CFO at several companies, including Valley Steel, Anodyne, Oasis Water, and Valley Rebar.
• Ferro Corp. has hired Sallie Bailey as vice president and chief financial officer, effective January 2, 2007. She will replace Thomas Gannon, who has served as vice president and CFO since joining Ferro in 2003. Bailey currently serves as senior vice president of finance and controller with The Timken Co. She has also worked at Tenneco and Deloitte & Touche. Ferro supplies technology-based performance materials to manufacturers.
• Software company OpenService has promoted Michael Conlon to chief financial officer. Prior to joining OpenService in 2000 and being promoted to vice president of finance, Conlon was CFO for Solutions 2000.
• The Cato Corp. has announced that Reynolds Faulkner, executive vice president and chief financial officer, has resigned. While the fashion retailer searches for his replacement, Robert Sandler, senior vice president and controller, will serve as principal financial officer.
• Odyssey HealthCare has hired R. Dirk Allison to succeed Douglas Cannon as senior vice president and chief financial officer. Allison previously served as the CFO of Omniflight, Ardent Health Services, and Renal Care Group. He was the president and CEO of several health-care companies. Cannon will remain with the hospice care provider through December 31 to assist in the transition.
• Zenergy International, which delivers biofuels, has appointed Leonard Maniscalco as chief financial officer. Most recently, he held a senior financial position with a $350 million international manufacturer and marketer of luxury outdoor retail and contract furnishings. Prior to that he headed a joint venture between Noven Pharmaceuticals and Novartis Pharmaceuticals.
• Eternal Image has hired James Robert Parliament as its first chief financial officer. Parliament joins the casket and urn designer after serving as a senior solutions architect and project manager at Ford. He has also worked at IBM, Roadway Logistics Systems, and Metropolitan Life Insurance Co.
• Focus Financial Partners has hired James Shanahan as chief financial officer. Before joining the fiduciary wealth management firm, Shanahan was the CFO and vice president of operations for an enterprise software security subsidiary of Microsoft. He also served in CFO and vice president of operations roles for Sybari Software and as a senior audit manager at PricewaterhouseCoopers.
• Linden Lab, creator of the virtual world entertainment company Second Life, today has announced that John Zdanowski is its new chief financial officer. He most recently served as CFO of HouseValues. He also co-founded Affinity Internet and has worked as an investment banker and management consultant.