• Dell has named Donald Carty vice chairman and chief financial officer, effective January 1. He replaces James Schneider, who will be executive chairman of Frontier Bancshares. Schneider, who had been with Dell since 1996, agreed to remain with Dell through the end of the current fiscal year to assist with the transition. Carty has been a member of the company’s board of directors and audit committee for several years. He previously served as chairman and CEO of AMR Corp., the parent company of American Airlines, which he resigned from in 2003. Carty has also served as a director of Sears Holding Corp., Barrick Gold Corp., CHC Helicopter Corp., and Hawaiian Holdings. In addition to the CFO title, Schneider was a senior vice president. He joined Dell from MCI Communications, where was senior vice president of finance. He had previously worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers as a partner. Thomas Luce will assume Carty’s duties as chairman of Dell’s audit committee. The CFO change comes amid reports that the Securities and Exchange Commission is probing the computer maker’s accounting for warranty accruals.
• The New York Times Co. has appointed James Follo as senior vice president and chief financial officer to succeed Leonard Forman, who is retiring at the end of December. Follo most recently served as chief financial and administrative officer of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia for the past five years. The newspaper company has also promoted George Barrios, CFO and senior vice president of the New England Media Group, to vice president and treasurer, effective January 8. He will report to Follo. Prior to working at the Martha Stewart company, Follo was with General Media International as executive vice president, CFO, and treasurer, and he worked as a senior audit manager at Grant Thornton.
• Warren Hadley has resigned as chief financial officer and treasurer of Forrester Research. The market research firm said the departure is a result of an internal investigation that uncovered irregularities with respect to an option grant for 5,000 shares made to Hadley in 1999. Chairman and CEO George Colony will serve as acting CFO while the company searches for a replacement.
• Stowers Institute for Medical Research has hired Roderick Sturgeon as executive vice president and chief financial officer. Sturgeon was previously a senior vice president of finance at Hallmark Cards Inc. He joined Hallmark in 1974 as a financial analyst and has held various positions, including manager of budgets and financial planning, marketing administrative manager, assistant controller, and vice president of finance and planning for Hallmark International.
• Benetton Group has hired Emilio Foà as chief financial officer of Benetton Group. Before joining the clothing retailer, Foà was deputy CFO at Burberry plc, and he worked at Gucci as group controller. He has also worked as a controller at 3M and finance director of Boehringer Mannheim and GlaxoSmithKline.
• Nash-Finch Co. has appointed Robert Dimond chief financial officer, executive vice president, and treasurer, effective January 2. He replaces LeAnne Stewart, who has resigned. Before taking on the new job at the food distributor, Dimond was CFO and senior vice president at Wild Oats Markets. From 2000 through 2004, Dimond was executive vice president, CFO, and treasurer at Nash Finch. He was also group vice president and CFO for the western region of The Kroger Co. and served as vice president of administration and controller for Smith’s Food and Drug Centers.
• WebMethods has appointed Ken Sexton as chief financial officer, executive vice president, treasurer, and principal financial officer, effective January 2. Sexton will replace Mark Wabschall, who is resigning December 31. John Andary, who has been serving as the interim principal financial officer since September, will stay with the software company through mid-February. Sexton was most recently executive vice president and CFO of Infor, and he has served as chairman and CEO of Axentis; CFO of Peregrine Systems; senior vice president of finance and administration and CFO of Merant; and CFO at Intersolv.
• Digital Angel Corp. has named Thomas Hoyer as chief financial officer, effective January 2. He will replace James Santelli, who is retiring. Most recently, Hoyer served as executive vice president and CFO of NationsRent Cos. Santelli joined Digital Angel, which makes electronic tags for animals, in 1999 as CFO, senior vice president, and vice president of operations.
• FNB Bancorp, the holding company for First National Bank of Northern California, has appointed Dave Curtis as chief financial officer to replace Jim Ramsey, who is retiring. Most recently, Curtis was a senior vice president and controller of Capital Corp.
• William Langley has resigned from Pacific Ethanol after nearly two years with the company. Before his retirement begins, Langley will provide consulting services to the company for eight months. The company is recruiting and evaluating potential replacements.