Growing Up Brady: Label Maker Promotes From Within

• Managers at Digex Inc., a Web site hosting company, named Scott Zimmerman interim chief financial officer. Zimmerman replaces Tim Adams, who is leaving the company to spend more time with his family. Digex, based in Laurel, Maryland, is controlled by long-distance telephone and data services company WorldCom Inc..

  Currently, Zimmerman is responsible for managing Digex’s financial operations, including accounting, tax, SEC reporting, and real estate operations. He began his career in the finance department at Bechtel Corp. the engineering and construction company. The interim Digex CFO holds a B.A. in economics and a B.S. in accounting from the University of Maryland. He is also a CPA and a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

  Like many Internet businesses, Digex has taken a beating of late. In the third quarter, the remote host lost $51 million–not exactly stellar numbers considering the company only generated $52 million in revenues. Company management gave no time frame for hiring a permanent finance chief.

• David Schroeder has moved up to the top finance spot at label and sign maker Brady Corp.. Schroeder replaces Frank Jaehnert, who will become president of the company’s identification solutions and specialty tapes group.

Jaehnert joined Brady Corp. in 1995 as finance director before becoming CFO in 1996. As for Schroeder: he’s been working at the Milwaukee-based Brady for over a decade. He first joined the company in 1991 as a general manager, and currently serves as group vice president of Brady’s identification solutions and specialty tapes group–the unit Jaehnert will now head.

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Schoeder inherits a mixed bag in his new post. While Brady’s cash position has improved of late–$75 million in cash and cash equivalents as of the end of Q1–the company’s net income has been dropping. Earnings for Q1 came in at $8 million, a sizeable fall off from the $11.4 million in profit the company reported in the first quarter of 2001. Sales have also slackened. The company did about $130 million in business in Q1, a 12 percent drop in sales from the first quarter of 2002.

• Julie Boland is making a big career switch. Boland, an investment banker and CPA, has been appointed CFO and treasurer at Oglebay Norton Co., a provider of minerals and aggregates. She will assume responsibility for all corporate financial operations at the Cleveland-based company, including corporate treasury, accounting, budgeting, financial reporting, planning and analysis. Boland replaces David Kelsey, who left Oglebay Norton at the end of November to take a position at another company.

  Prior to taking the helm at the finance department at Oglebay Norton, Boland worked at Goldman Sachs International in London. Most recently, she served as vice president and business unit manager for the investment bank’s credit risk management and advisory group. Boland also spent several years with J.P. Morgan & Co., where she held various finance and investment banking positions, including vice president of fixed income and loan capital markets.

  Boland began her career in 1988 with Price Waterhouse, working as a certified public accountant in the accountancy’s general audit division. Boland earned a B.S. from the University of Vermont in business and accounting, as well as an MBA in finance and statistics from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business.

• Management at Alameda, Calif.-based Calypte Biomedical named Richard Brounstein chief financial officer. Brounstein, who has spent the past several months raising capital for the health-care specialist, was also named to the company’s board of directors. Nancy Katz, Calpyte’s current chief executive, served as CFO prior to the Brounstein appointment.

  Before landing his current position, Brounstein was the head of finance at Certicom Corp., a Canadian provider of security technology for computing and communications manufacturers. He also held the CFO post at VidaMed, a developer of technology for treating urological diseases.