• Frank Forward, who has served as interim chief financial officer of BJ’s Wholesale Club since December 2005, has agreed to extend his tenure for three more years. Forward, who also holds the title of executive vice president, served in the CFO role from 1997 through May 2005, when he was named chief administrative officer and Paul McDonough, former treasurer of the St. Paul Travelers Cos., took his place. McDonough resigned seven months later. Forward was a member of the team that formed BJ’s Wholesale Club as a development stage business in 1984.
• Amtrak has replaced its chief financial officer, David Smith,
temporarily with treasurer Dale Stein until it names a permanent CFO. Amtrak
president Alexander Kummant announced this change in mid-December along with
the departure of three other top officials. Smith joined the financially
troubled railroad in November 2004. He previously served as CFO of the
Tennessee Valley Authority, vice president of finance for LTV Corp.,
and vice president of corporate development for Cyclops Corp. A year after Smith’s
appointment to Amtrak, he was faced with an uncertain budget, and
pressure to balance the railroad’s need to pay down borrowings, upgrade its
technology systems, and garner compromises from its unions, among other
responsibilities. An Amtrak observer told CFO magazine at the time,
“I can’t imagine a tougher job than being CFO at Amtrak.”
• EDS has named Dave Kost vice president of investor relations to replace
Al Hamood, who will become chief financial officer for the company’s U.S. operations. A 23-year EDS veteran, Kost has served as vice president of finance and CFO for the U.S. region and CFO of the company’s former Operations Solutions
business line. He has also held a number of operational management roles in
the finance and treasury organizations, including seven years in Europe and
the Asia-Pacific region. Kost began his career in international banking and
trade at Detroit Bank and Trust (Comerica) and Mercantile Bank (JP Morgan
Chase).
• Essex Investment Management Co. has promoted Deborah Coulter to chief
financial officer. She previously served as a senior vice president and
director of finance and administration. Before joining Essex in 1995,
Coulter was a senior tax associate with Deloitte & Touche.
• Collateral Real Estate Capital recently hired Roy Browning as executive
vice president and chief financial officer. Previously, Browning served as
executive vice president and CFO for Aurora Loan Services, and he held
several executive positions related to finance and planning, including two
years as senior vice president of finance and planning for Bridge
Information Systems and as executive vice president and CFO for GreenPoint
Mortgage Corp.
• Crossbeam Systems has hired Thomas Sheehan as chief financial officer.
He previously served as CFO at Egenera, The MacGregor Group, and Fidelity
Technology Solutions. He also served in a number of senior executive finance
roles at Oak Industries and was director of corporate accounting at Nashua
Corp. He began his career at Coopers & Lybrand. Crossbeam provides security
for computer networks.
• David Sheridan, who has served as director of finance since 2003 for
the Oneida Indian Nation’s Turning Stone Resort and Casino, has been named
chief financial officer for the Nation and its enterprises. Prior to joining
Turning Stone, Sheridan was an audit manager with PricewaterhouseCoopers.
• Aquacell Water has hired Kevin Spence as president and chief financial
officer. He was previously executive vice president and CFO of United States
Filter Corp. and an audit partner at KPMG Peat Marwick. Aquacell designs
turnkey water filtration and purification systems.
• Sucampo Pharmaceuticals has named Ronald Kaiser chief financial officer
and has transitioned its acting CFO, Mariam Morris, to chief accounting
officer. Kaiser was most recently CFO of PharmAthene, and he spent two years
as the CFO and secretary of Air Cargo and four years as CFO and treasurer of
OTG Software. He held CFO positions at American Communications Services,
ADAK Communications, Leeco Diagnostics, Somanetics, and Photon Sources. He
began his career as a senior accountant for Deloitte Haskins & Sells (now
Deloitte & Touche).
• On Assignment Inc. has appointed James Brill as senior vice president
of finance and chief financial officer, effective January 1. Brill replaces
Michael Holtzman, who resigned for medical reasons on December 8.
Since 1999, Brill was vice president of finance and CFO of Diagnostic
Products Corp., which was acquired by Siemens last year. He has also served
as CFO of Jafra Cosmetics International, vice president of finance and
administration and CFO of Vertel Corp., and senior vice president of finance
and CFO of Merisel. On Assignment is a professional staffing firm.
• Evergreen Solar has appointed Michael El-Hillow as chief financial
officer. He succeeds Donald Muir, who has resigned to pursue other
opportunities, according to the manufacturer. El-Hillow has resigned from
Evergreen’s board, of which he was chairman. He has served as CFO at several
companies, including Advanced Energy Industries and Helix Technology
Corporation. Earlier in his career, he was an audit partner at Ernst &
Young.
• Quidel Corp., which provides diagnostic tests, has named John Radak
chief financial officer, effective February 1. He will succeed Paul Landers, who announced his retirement last year and will stay with the company through the end of March. Radak started his career with Deloitte & Touche and later served as vice president and chief accounting officer for Invitrogen Corp. He has also held senior leadership positions in finance for Sunrise Medical and Bird Products Corp.
• Radius has appointed Nick Harvey to senior vice president and chief
financial officer. He was most recently managing director at Shiprock
Capital LLC, and he has held various senior financial management positions
with LifetecNet, Transfusion Technologies, Transcend Therapeutics, and
Computer Power Group.
• Sciona has named David Metzger chief financial officer. Previously, Metzger served as CFO of Sterling Partners, and he held CFO, corporate counsel, and executive positions in various organizations, including Airbase Services, First Mariner Bancorp, and MG Refining and Marketing. Sciona provides DNA testing.