• Judy Lewent will retire as executive vice president and chief financial officer of Merck & Co. in July. She has spent 17 of her 27 years with the pharmaceutical company as the finance chief. She was once considered a strong candidate for becoming CEO. Lewent joined Merck in 1980 after serving as a controller at Pfizer. In addition to the CFO title, she has filled the roles of treasurer and vice president of finance. Merck said it is searching for Lewent’s replacement.
• Stephen Swad is leaving as CFO of AOL to take a job with a private-equity firm, according to an internal memo cited by several news reports. Swad will stay with AOL until a successor is named. Swad had been vice president of finance and administration at Turner Broadcasting System when he was tapped to become CFO of AOL in 2003. He joined Time Warner in 1998 as vice president and deputy controller.
• John Kampfe has been named executive vice president and CFO of Turner Broadcasting, effective April 2. He will also serve on the TBS executive committee. He has worked with the company for almost 15 years. Kampfe succeeds Vicky Miller, who is retiring after a 15-year tenure. Kampfe was most recently senior vice president, corporate controller, and chief accounting officer for TBS. Previously, Kampfe served in numerous senior-level accounting and finance positions with Florida National Banks of Florida, Touche Ross & Co., and Norwest Corp. Kampfe also serves on the board of Broadcast Cable Financial Management.
• Cirrus Logic has appointed acting CFO Thurman Case as its new finance chief. Case joined the analog company in 2000 and has served as vice president of finance, corporate controller, and treasurer. He replaces John Kurtzweil, who left in September to take on the CFO job at Cree Inc.
• Delia’s has named Stephen Feldman CFO, effective February 26. He succeeds John Holowko, who has resigned to pursue other interests, according to the retailer. Feldman previously served as senior vice president, CFO, and secretary of Urban Brands; executive vice president, chief administrative officer, and CFO of Forman Mills; and CFO of Urban Outfitters.
• Paul Ross has resigned as Power-One’s vice president of finance, treasurer, and CFO. Jeffrey Kyle, vice president of operations for one of the manufacturer’s business units, will take his place. Ross will stay with the company until mid-March. Kyle previously held senior operational positions with SanDisk.
• John Sakys, CFO of Isonics, has been appointed president, chief operating officer, and interim chief executive officer. He has also been named director. He replaces James Alexander, who resigned as co-founder, chairman, and chief executive of the company. Kenneth Deane, Isonics’ director of financial reporting, has been promoted to vice president and CFO.
• Sequenom has appointed Paul Hawran chief financial officer, effective April 1. He will serve as a consultant in the meantime. Hawran has resigned as a board member and chairman of the audit committee. Hawran previously served as CFO of Neurocrine Biosciences, vice president and treasurer of SmithKline Beecham, and director of finance at Warner Communications (now Time Warner). He also serves on the Cytori Therapeutics board.
• Hathaway Corp. has appointed Cris Perez as chief financial officer. Most recently running a consulting business, Perez previously worked as CFO, secretary, treasurer, and director of Resolve Staffing. Hathaway develops and acquires companies.
• Talisma Corp. has promoted Wade Pfieffer from CFO to chief operating officer. He will keep his finance chief title. Before joining the software company, Pfeiffer served as COO and CFO at X10 Wireless Technology. He also served as president of X10 USA and senior manager in the audit and corporate finance divisions at Ernst & Young.
• Michael Paull has been named CFO of NineSigma, which helps R&D departments with their problems. He previously was CFO at Ogenix.
• George Aronson has resigned as CFO of Interpharm Holdings to pursue other opportunities. A three-year veteran of the company, he will work during the transition period.
• Joseph Levinson has resigned as CFO of PacificNet and other positions with the company’s subsidiaries. PacificNet is searching for an interim replacement.
• Nikko Citigroup has appointed John Trohan, formerly the company’s managing director, as CFO of Nikko Citigroup Limited. He previously served as treasurer of Salomon Smith Barney Japan Limited and deputy CFO and member of Nikko Citigroup’s executive committee.