>> Dow Jones & Co. chairman and CEO Peter Kann celebrating Independence Day by freeing himself from two of his five jobs: COO and publisher of flagship paper the Wall Street Journal… Kann, who also serves as board chairman and editorial director of all Dow Jones publications, including Barron’s and SmartMoney, gave COO job to CFO Richard Zannino… Dow Jones Newswire story quotes analyst saying that management changes make Zannino, 43, most likely candidate to succeed Kann… Kann, 59, faces mandatory retirement in 2007…
Shedding finance role, Zannino will oversee company operating units… Also will serve on new executive committee to help Kann lead business… Zannino joined Dow Jones last year as CFO… VP of finance and controller Christopher Vieth will succeed Zannino as finance chief but still report to him, as well as to Kann…
Karen Elliott House named SVP, publisher of all print editions of the Journal… House, head of company’s overseas operations, is former reporter who won Pulitzer Prize for Journal for Middle East coverage… Managing editor Paul Steiger takes over responsibility for overseas operations…
>> Final Fantasy? In management shuffle, Jim Bass teleported to CFO post at U.S. video-game arm of media and electronics giant Sony Corp…. Before promotion, was VP of finance… Sony spokeswoman said Bass’s duties remain the same for the most part, focusing on accounting, financial operations… At least he gets to be CFO…
>> International property advice company FPD Savills picks former London Stock Exchange CFO Fields Wicker-Miurin as nonexecutive director…
Wicker-Miurin making rounds on boards, panels these days… She was also recently appointed to newly created executive board of Britain’s Department of Trade and Industry… Tapped to serve on advisory panel to European Union parliament’s committee on economic and monetary affairs… Panel advises on harmonization of financial services…
>> Genaissance Pharmaceuticals president, CFO Kevin Rakin adds post of COO, gives up finance… Joseph Keyes, executive director of finance, promoted to VP and CFO…
As CFO, Rakin, 41, raised $150 million in public and private funds… Also peddled Genaissance-proposed products—drugs that put genomics research to practical use—to big pharmacos like AstraZeneca, Biogen, Johnson & Johnson, and Pfizer… Spawned collaborations, joint ventures… COO post was created to free up Rakin to develop more partnerships as part of plan to grow revenues, cut overall operating expenses…
Keyes, 44, joined Genaissance in March 2001 as executive director of finance… Was VP of finance for DSL.net… Before that, was CFO for Heritage Consumer Products, spent seven years at United States Surgical Corp. as head of budgeting and planning, and as a group controller.