• K. Michael Conaway, formerly the vice president, secretary, and treasurer of Bush Exploration and the former the chief financial officer United Bank of Midland — which loaned George W. Bush $500,000 to buy his share of the Texas Rangers baseball team — was elected on Tuesday to the U.S. House of Representatives from the 11th Congressional District. Conaway, a Republican, defeated Democrat Wayne Raasch and Libertarian Jeffrey Blunt in the race to represent the president’s home district.
• Defense giant Northrop Grumman Corp. appointed Barbara A. Niland chief financial officer and vice president of business management for the company’s Newport News sector, which builds nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, in Newport News, Virginia. Niland, who joined the company in 1979, was promoted to vice president of finance and controller for the company’s electronic-systems sector in 2002. She succeeds Linda M. Leukhardt, who was recently named the chief financial officer for that sector.
• PerkinElmer Inc. chief financial officer Robert Friel is taking the added responsibilities of the executive vice president and head of business development. Friel, who has been CFO of the Boston-based health-sciences company since 1999, will now also focus on strategic growth opportunities. In addition, PerkinElmer named John P. Murphy, formerly president of the company’s optoelectronics business, as its new vice president and chief operating officer.
• Plano, Texas-based Alliance Systems, a provider of communications and computing infrastructure solutions, promoted David Moore to vice president. Moore, who joined the company in 2000 as corporate controller, will retain that title; previously, he was operations controller at Paccar Leasing Corp. Alliance also appointed Todd Kehoe as vice president and treasurer; he has previous strategic and financial management experience at several public and private companies in the United States and in Europe.
• Cary, North Carolina-based wireless-tower operator SpectraSite Inc. tapped 3Com Corp. veteran Mark A. Slaven as chief financial officer. Slaven, whose experience at 3Com include two years as CFO, has also been the finance chief of the personal printer division at Lexmark International Inc. He later worked as vice president of finance in the manufacturing division of U.S. Robotics before its 1997 acquisition by 3Com.
• Patrick E. Allen was appointed chief financial officer of Rockwell Collins, which designs and manufactures communications and aviation electronics equipment, effective January 1. He succeeds Larry Erickson, who is retiring. Allen joined the Cedar Rapids, Iowa-based company in 2001 as vice president of corporate finance and treasurer; currently he is vice president and controller of the company’s commercial systems business.
• Nicole N. Dicks has been named vice president of finance, treasurer, and chief financial officer of The Burnham Institute, an independent, nonprofit organization based in La Jolla, California, and dedicated to biomedical research. Most recently, Dicks was controller and director of finance and administration at biotechnology company Kalypsys Inc.; she has also been finance manager at Depotech Corp., CFO at Amdax Inc., and controller and CFO at Bio-Hydration Research Lab Inc.
• Laura Barillaro, who since 1995 has been vice president and controller of The Jockey Club, the breed registry for all thoroughbred horses in North America, was named executive vice president and chief financial officer. Barillaro will report to president and chief operating officer Alan Marzelli, who himself came up through the finance organization. Marzelli joined The Jockey Club in 1983 as controller and assistant treasurer and was CFO from 1986 to 2003, when he was promoted to his current position.
• New York-based MortgageIT Holdings Inc., a residential mortgage company organized as a real estate investment trust, appointed Glenn J. Mouridy to the positions of president and chief financial officer. Mouridy most recently served as executive vice president of operations and risk management of Chase Home Finance, a unit of JPMorgan Chase; earlier, he had been the unit’s CFO. The company’s subsidiary MortgageIT Inc. also named a finance chief, Donald Epstein. Epstein has served as the top finance executive for MortgageIT’s lending operations since 2002 and was CFO of the parent company since its IPO this past July.
• Rent.com appointed Brian Barnum chief financial officer. Barnum served in that same capacity at his previous company, broadband services provider UFO Communications; he has also been finance chief at Classroom Connect Inc. and Transaction Network Services Inc.
• Cedar Rapids, Iowa-based manufacturer American Pallet Leasing Inc. named Byron Hudson as chief financial officer. Hudson’s experience including four years as vice president, controller, and chief accounting officer of Belk Stores Services, a department-store chain, and six years as CFO of Pic ‘N Pay Stores Inc.
• Savannah, Georgia-based jewelry retailer Friedman’s Inc. named Richard Hettlinger chief financial officer. Hettlinger, who most recently was CFO of The Walking Co., has also been the finance chief of Paul Harris Stores and of three divisions of The May Department Stores. In addition, Hettlinger has served as president and chief executive officer of Heartland Industries.
• Zantaz Inc., a digital archiving, compliance, and discovery-management specialist based in Pleasanton, California, named Steven Klei chief financial officer and senior vice president of finance and administration. Klei was most recently finance chief of ProBusiness Services Inc.; previously he was corporate controller at apparel maker Esprit De Corp.
• VXI Corp., a manufacturer of professional headsets, named Sylvio Theriault chief financial officer of the Rollinsford, New Hampshire-based company. Previously
Theriault was president, CEO, and CFO of Spaulding Composites Co. Inc. He’s also held finance positions at Hallmark Cards subsidiary William Arthur Inc., at Jarvis Cutting Tools, and at The Timberland Co.