• GNC Corp. promoted senior vice president of finance and corporate controller Curtis J. Larrimer, a 25-year veteran of the company, to the position of senior vice president and chief financial officer. Larrimer succeeds and reports to David R. Heilman, who has been named chief administrative officer and executive vice president of the Pittsburgh-based nutritional-supplement seller.
• Pharmaceutical giant Schering-Plough Corp. appointed William J. Creelman vice president of tax, reporting to executive vice president and chief financial officer Robert Bertolini. Creelman joins the Kenilworth, New Jersey-based company from Pfizer, where most recently he was senior tax counsel. Before Pfizer, he worked at Cigna Corp., SmithKline Beecham Corp., and Arthur Andersen & Co. Creelman succeeds Daniel A. Nichols, who will retire in March.
• Kraft Foods Inc. named David Brearton senior vice president of business process simplification and corporate controller. Brearton, currently senior vice president of finance at Kraft International Commercial, will report to Kraft chief executive officer Roger Deromedi in his business-process role and to Jim Dollive, chief financial officer, for his controller responsibilities. Brearton joined Kraft in 1984, and has served in a variety of finance assignments in Canada, Europe, and at the company’s Northfield, Illinois, headquarters. He replaces Jack Mowrer, who is retiring as senior vice president and controller in March after more than 30 years with the company.
• San Francisco-based children’s retailer Gymboree Corp. tapped Blair Lambert as chief operating officer, a newly created position in which he will oversee the finance department, effective January 18. In 2003, Lambert was named chief financial officer at Illuminations.com, which was purchased in 2004 by Candle Acquisition Co.; he has also been finance chief at Bebe stores Inc. and corporate vice president of finance at Esprit de Corp.
• James Reilly resigned as vice president and corporate controller of clothing group Tommy Hilfiger Corp. Chief financial officer, senior vice president, and treasurer Joseph Scirocco will assume Reilly’s responsibilities until the company hires a new controller. According to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Reilly is moving to a new post as CFO of a privately held company.
• Cambridge Integrated Services Group Inc., a claims-and-loss cost management company, named Robert J. Fechtmann as its first chief financial officer. Fechtmann joins the Greenwich, Connecticut-based company from marketing communications firm Draft Inc., where he was executive vice president and CFO. Previously, he held executive finance and treasury positions for Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. and Colgate-Palmolive.
• F. Nicholas Grasberger joins flooring and cabinet maker Armstrong Holdings Inc. as chief financial officer, effective January 1. Grasberger joins the Lancaster, Pennsylvania-based company from Kennametal Inc., a manufacturer of cutting tools and wear parts, where he has served as vice president and CFO since 2000. Before Kennametal, Grasberger worked at H.J. Heinz for 11 years, most recently as treasurer; he began his career in the treasury department at USX Corp. Grasberger replaces Leonard A. Campanaro who will continue as a financial advisor to the company.
• Madison, Alabama-based broadband access provider Verilink Corp. named Timothy R. Anderson vice president and chief financial officer; most recently he was finance chief at Carrier Access Corp. Bill Smith, who has served as CFO since November 2001, will remain with the company as vice president and corporate controller.
• Michael A. Pugh was named executive vice president of finance and chief financial officer of Huntsville, Texas-based Mitcham Industries Inc., a supplier of seismic equipment. Pugh was most recently COO and CFO of Corporate Alliance, a privately held marketing company. Before that, Pugh was vice president and CFO at Regent Energy.
• Fort Wayne, Indiana-based Steel Dynamics Inc. named Gary Heasley chief financial officer, effective January 1. For the past three years, Gary has been with KeyBanc Capital Markets, a division of McDonald Investments Inc., most recently as senior vice president and manager of the metals group. He also worked for four years for Ernst & Young LLP as senior accountant in its national merger and acquisitions group.
• On January 17, Ian Halifax will join San Francisco-based business software maker Micromuse Inc. as chief financial officer; since 1999, he has been finance chief of Macrovision Corp. Micromuse’s current CFO, Mike Luetkemeyer, will remain with the company during a transition period after Halifax joins the company.
• Orchid BioSciences Inc. a supplier of identity DNA testing services, announced that senior vice president of finance and chief financial officer Michael E. Spicer has resigned, effective December 31. Spicer, who joined the Princeton, New Jersey-based company upon its acquisition of Lifecodes Corp. in 2001 and has served as Orchid’s CFO since July 2003, will now be joining a publicly traded biopharmaceutical company. Orchid promoted Joseph M. Warusz to the position of vice president of financial planning and analysis, where he will take on additional financial oversight responsibilities while the company searches for a permanent replacement for Spicer.
• David Gino is stepping down as chief operating officer and chief financial officer of Active Power Inc., a maker of flywheel energy-storage systems, for an opportunity in nanolithography. Gino will remain with Austin-based Active Power through its financial year-end.