- Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products NV is hoping Tim Ledwick is the voice of experience it needs to recover from its recent woes. He was named CFO “to help develop and implement L&H’s recovery plan,” the Belgian maker of speech-recognition software said in a statement. It was referring to its highly publicized troubles including run-ins with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Ledwick joins L&H from direct marketer Cross Media Marketing Corp., where he was CFO.
L&H has seen a string of difficulties recently. It filed for bankruptcy protection late last year after admitting to widespread accounting irregularities. Its two eponymous founders, Jo Lernout and Pol Hauspie, former CEO Gaston Bastiaens, and several other executives were then forced to leave the company. More recently, on April 9, WSJ.com reported that an investigation by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLC found that 70 percent of almost $160 million in sales in the company’s Korean unit were ficitious.
- It’s a Wonderful Life: James G. Stewart was appointed CFO of La Jolla, Calif.-based Graviton Inc., a maker of wireless sensory networks. Stewart joins Graviton from Ventro Corp., where he served as CFO.
- Bill Kurtz has decided not to play follow the leader. The CFO of E-business consultancy Scient Corp. said he would not be relocating when the San Francisco-based company moves its corporate headquarters to New York. His resignation is effective June 30.