• Safeco has named Ross Kari executive vice president and chief financial officer, effective June 21. He succeeds Christine Mead, who left the property and casualty insurer in December. Since 2002, Kari has served as executive vice president and chief operating officer of the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco. Previously, he spent 18 years with Wells Fargo, starting as a financial analyst and ending his tenure as executive vice president and chief financial officer.
• MBIA has announced that board member C. Edward Chaplin will join the company as chief financial officer, vice chairman of MBIA Insurance, and a member of the executive policy committee, effective June 26. He succeeds Nicholas Ferreri, who is leaving for personal reasons unrelated to the ongoing regulatory investigations of the company. Chaplin, who will leave his position as senior vice president and treasurer of Prudential Financial, will also resign as an MBIA director.
• Getty Images, a creator and distributor of visual content, has appointed Thomas Oberdorf senior vice president and chief financial officer. She succeeds Liz Huebner, who announced last year that she would retire during the first half of 2006. Most recently, Oberdorf was senior vice president, CFO, and treasurer of CMGI. Earlier, he served as chief financial officer and senior vice president of BeMusic Direct, a division of Bertelsmann, following 18 years with the Reader’s Digest Association.
• Agilent Technologies has appointed Robert Nikl chief financial officer of its semiconductor test subsidiary Verigy, effective June 20. He succeeds Adrian Dillon, Agilent’s CFO and executive vice president of finance and administration, who has been handling the Verigy duties on an interim basis. Most recently, Nikl was senior vice president and chief financial officer of Asyst Technologies. Earlier in his career, he was chief financial officer of Solectron’s Global Operations and vice president of finance for Xerox Engineering Systems; he began his career with KPMG Peat Marwick.
• Medical-device manufacturer ArthroCare has promoted vice president of finance and administration Michael Gluk to senior vice president and chief financial officer. He succeeds Fernando Sanchez, who has become ArthroCare’s senior vice president of business development. Gluk joined the company in 2004 from General Motors, where he held a number of controller, treasury, and business-development positions.
• James Truess has been named executive vice president and chief financial officer of Amerigroup, effective July 5. Sherri Lee, who has served as interim CFO since November, will continue in a consulting role during a transition period. Truess has served as chief financial officer and treasurer of Group Health Cooperative since 1997. Amerigroup develops managed health care plans for low-income individuals and families.
• Preferred Bank, a California-based independent commercial bank, has tapped Edward Czajka as chief financial officer. He takes on the CFO duties from chairman and CEO Li Yu, who has served as interim finance chief since March. Previously, Czajka was chief financial officer of Presidio Bank. Earlier in his career, he was executive vice president and chief financial officer of North Valley Bancorp as well as vice president and corporate controller for Pacific Capital Bancorp.
• DSL technology company Aware has named Keith Farris vice president and chief financial officer. He succeeds Rob Weiskopf, who is departing to pursue other interests. Previously, Farris was CFO of Lojack; earlier, he held senior financial positions at Arkwright and Digital Equipment Corp. and was an auditor Ernst and Young.
• James Agnello has been appointed chief financial officer of Clarient, effective June 19. He succeeds Jay Roberts, who has served as interim CFO at the medical technology and services company since February. Most recently, Agnello was controller, chief accounting officer, and division CFO at Teleflex. Earlier in his career, he served as senior vice president and chief financial officer for Impath and vice president and controller for SmithKline Beecham’s clinical laboratory division, prior to its merger with Quest Diagnostics.
• Christopher Marr was named chief financial officer of U-Store-It Trust, a real estate investment trust, effective June 5. Most recently, Marr was senior vice president and CFO of Brandywine Realty Trust; previously, he served as finance chief of Storage USA and worked as an audit manager with Coopers and Lybrand. At Brandywine, vice president of finance Tim Martin and vice president and chief accounting officer Scott Fordham will share interim CFO duties while the integrated real estate company searches for a successor to Marr.