James Kavanaugh has been promoted to finance chief at IBM. He succeeds Martin Schroeter, who will become senior vice president of global markets. Kavanaugh joined the firm from AT&T in 1996 and most recently served as senior vice president, transformation and operations.
Commercial real-estate services company Avison Young has named Christine Battist principal and CFO. She takes over for Gary Hubbard, who plans to retire later in the year. Battist formerly held the top finance spot at Silver Bay Realty Trust.
Sabre, which provides technology to the travel industry, said that Rick Simonson, who leads the finance function, plans to retire by the end of the year. The company has begun a search for his replacement, and Simonson will become a senior adviser to the company once that person has been selected.
Retailer Cole Haan has named Tom Linko as its new finance chief. He formerly headed finance at Kate Spade & Co.
Presidio, which provides IT solutions, has chosen Neil Johnston to fill the top finance spot, replacing the retiring Paul Fletcher. Previously, Johnston led the finance function at Cox Automotive.
Darling Ingredients has promoted Brad Phillips to executive vice president and CFO. He joined the firm in 1988 and most recently was vice president and treasurer.
Curtis Smith will take over as finance chief at Guidewire Software. He will start work at the firm on Feb. 1 and assume the top finance spot on approximately March 6. He succeeds Richard Hart, who will become chief strategy officer. Smith formerly was CFO at Keynote Systems and at Infusion Software.
Electronics manufacturing services provider Nortech Systems has appointed Connie Beck to the top finance spot, replacing the retiring Paula Graff. Most recently, Beck was vice president of finance and controller at MOCON.
Lisa Mayr will leave her post as head of finance at Blackboard at the end of January. Chief legal officer Stuart Kupinsky will become interim CFO at the education-technology firm.
Remote-communications IT solutions provider DataPath has named Carter Johnson to lead the finance function, taking over for Emmett Moore. Johnson previously was senior vice president of finance and contract management at Meggitt Training Systems.
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