• Fifth Third Bancorp hired Christopher Marshall as chief financial officer, effective in late May. Marshall, currently a senior executive for Bank of America’s Global Consumer and Small Business division, previously was the finance chief for two other BofA units. Earlier in his career, he served as chief operating officer and CFO for Global Business Services of Honeywell International and as CFO for AlliedSignal Technology Services.
• Energy Partners, a New Orleans-based oil and natural gas exploration and production company, announced that executive vice president and chief financial officer David Looney has resigned to pursue professional opportunities in Houston, where his family has remained since Hurricane Katrina. Joseph LeBlanc, who was recently appointed treasurer, was named principal financial officer; T.J. Thom was recently named director of investor relations, and Dina Bracci Riviere will continue as controller and principal accounting officer.
• Bally Total Fitness Holding has named Ronald G. Eidell senior vice president of finance. He takes the finance helm from Carl Landeck, who joined Bally as CFO in March 2005 amid an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Eidell is a partner with Tatum, an executive services and consulting firm; he also serves on the audit committee of biopharmaceutical company NeoPharm. Previously, he served as chief financial officer at eye-care services provider NovaMed and direct marketer Metromail.
• Gemstar-TV Guide International has named Bedi Singh executive vice president and chief financial officer. Chief executive officer Rich Batista has served as the interim finance chief since January, when the troubled a maker of software for cable-television program guides terminated CFO Brian Urban. Singh, previously the finance chief and administration officer for Novartis Pharma, has also served as CFO of Sony Pictures Entertainment and has held several senior financial positions at News Corp.
• Tyson Foods has appointed Wade Miquelon executive vice president and chief financial officer, effective in June. He succeeds Dennis Leatherby, who has served as interim CFO since June 2004 and will continue as senior vice president of finance and treasurer. Miquelon, a 16-year veteran of Procter & Gamble, is currently CFO and general manager for P&G’s Western Europe region, based in Geneva; earlier, he was CFO and senior director for the company’s 42-country ASEAN, Australia, and India region, based in Singapore.
• Robert Neumeister has been hired by Linux Supercomputing as executive vice president and chief financial officer. Previously, Neumeister worked on the leveraged buyout of Dex Media from Qwest Communications, as well as the company’s $1 billion initial public offering. Earlier in his career, he was the founding chief financial officer of Sprint PCS; he has also held financial management positions at Nortel Networks, Prolexis Pharmaceuticals, and Aerie Networks.
• Gannett chief financial officer Gracia Martore has been given the additional title of executive vice president. Martore, who joined Gannett in 1985 as assistant treasurer, was named vice president of treasury services in 1993 and given responsibility for investor relations in 1996.
• Vitesse Semiconductor announced that chief executive officer Louis Tomasetta, executive vice president and previous chief financial officer Eugene Hovanec, and current CFO Yatin Mody were placed on administrative leave. The company’s board has named a special committee of independent directors to conduct an internal investigation relating to past stock option grants, the timing of such grants, and related accounting and documentation.
• World Air Holdings, which owns and operates World Airways, North American Airlines, and World Risk Solutions, has named Michael Towe chief financial officer. He takes the helm from controller Ginger Clark, who has served as interim CFO since December. Previously, Towe was the finance chief of Roper Industries. Before joining Roper, Towe spent 27 years at General Electric, where he held five CFO positions, including international assignments in South Korea, China, and Hong Kong.
• Alpine Air Express has promoted director of accounting Don Squire to chief financial officer. Before joining Alpine Air, Squire was a finance and accounting consultant; his most recent assignment involved the restructuring of Sheaffer Pen, a BIC subsidiary. He also has served as a controller and finance manager for Rehab Designs of America, Oriflame USA, Priority Dispatch (formerly Medical Priority Consultants), Infinity Nutritionals, and other organizations.
• Senetek, a life-science product developer, has hired William O’Kelly as chief financial officer. He succeeds Dawn Croft, who has filled the role on a consulting basis since December. O’Kelly’s most recent positions were as finance chief of Agentis Software and vice president finance and treasurer of Informix Software.
• Director of internal audit Barbara Moss will take over as chief financial officer of professional services company Computer Horizons, effective April 28. She succeeds Michael Shea, who resigned to pursue another opportunity. Prior to joining Computer Horizons, Moss served as vice president of client services at i2 Technologies, chief operating officer at NextGenMarkets, chief information technology officer at Alliant Exchange Corp., and vice president, controller, and chief compliance officer at Compaq.