• Office Depot Inc. appointed chief financial officer Charles E. Brown to the position of president, international. In his new role, Brown will have overall responsibility for all operations outside North America, including existing company-owned operations in Europe and Japan and joint venture or license agreements in seven other countries. Brown, who joined the Delray Beach, Florida-based company as controller in 1998, had been finance chief since 2001.
• Clothing retailer Abercrombie & Fitch announced that Susan J. Riley resigned as chief financial officer, effective April 15, for family reasons. While the New Albany, Ohio-based company is searching for Riley’s successor, president and chief operating officer Robert Singer will assume finance responsibilities.
• Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, the nation’s largest pediatric hospital, hired Benjamin Melson as chief financial officer. Melson, who had been finance chief at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center since 2000, was also previously senior vice president and CFO at Hendrick Health System in Abilene.
• Jeffrey W. Henderson will join Cardinal Health Inc., which provides products and services to the health-care industry, as executive vice president and chief financial officer, succeeding interim CFO J. Michael Losh. Henderson, who was most recently president and general manager of Eli Lilly Canada Inc., was also previously vice president and corporate controller of Eli Lilly & Co. He will join Dublin, Ohio-based Cardinal Health on April 18 to work with Losh before assuming the CFO position on May 15. Losh, the retired finance chief of General Motors Corp., has served in his interim role since late July last year.
• Los Angeles-based Intelligent Energy, which develops hydrogen-based fuel-cell technologies, appointed Rakesh Varma chief financial officer and a member of its board of directors. Before joining Intelligent Energy, Varma was finance chief at The California Endowment, one of the largest foundations in the country. He has also held finance and operations positions at GE Capital, Time Warner, and First Interstate Bancorp, as well as the CFO post for Cigna Health Care’s western U.S. operations.
• Divesh Sisodraker was named chief financial officer of San Francisco-based Taleo Corp. Before joining the maker of staffing-management software, Sisodraker served in a variety of executive roles, including CFO, for customer-relationship-management provider Pivotal Corp., which was acquired in 2004 by CDC Software.
• Safeguard Security Holdings Inc., a provider of professionally trained security-service personnel, announced that Richard P. McLaughlin joined the Houston-based company as chief financial officer. McLaughlin began his accounting career with Deloitte Haskins & Sells, rising to the level of audit manager. Since leaving Deloitte, he has held several senior finance and accounting positions, including the role of vice president of accounting for Careerstaff Unlimited.
• Israel-based Tefron Ltd., which manufactures intimate apparel for major U.S. brands, announced that Gil Rozen will resign as chief financial officer effective May 31 to pursue private business opportunities. Asaf Alperovitz, who will step in as Rozen’s successor, is currently CFO of software company Corigin Ltd. Previously Alperovitz held various management positions in the high-tech area at Ernst & Young, both in Israel and in California, over an eight-year period.
• Restaurant franchisee Meritage Hospitality Group Inc. appointed Gary A. Rose vice president, chief financial officer, and treasurer. Before joining the Grand Rapids, Michigan-based company, Rose’s experience included stints as an accountant for Deloitte & Touche, as controller for a manufacturing company owned by the Wall Street equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, and as CFO for vending-machine operator Consolidated Vendors.
• Southwest Water Co. promoted Cheryl L. Clary to chief financial officer, succeeding Richard J. Shields. Since October, Clary had been vice president of finance for the Los Angeles-based company, which provides a range of public water-supply services.