• Goodyear Tire & Rubber has appointed executive vice president and CFO Richard Kramer as president of the company’s North American Tire unit. Kramer will continue to fulfill his finance-chief duties until his successor is named. Treasurer Darren Wells was promoted to senior vice president of finance and strategy and will take over Kramer’s responsibility for the company’s overall strategy. Kramer joined Goodyear seven years ago as vice president of corporate finance. He later held the titles of vice president of finance for North American Tire and senior vice president of strategic planning and restructuring before becoming CFO.
• Robert Dykes resigned as executive vice president and CFO of Juniper Networks soon after the computer company filed several much-delayed financial reports. The company said Dykes’ departure was not due to any disagreement with the company regarding its operations, policies, or practices. Dykes will stay with the company through the end of April. He was previously the CFO and president of the systems group at Flextronics. He also held the CFO title at Symantec Corp., Adept Technology, and Xebec. And he held senior financial management positions at Ford Motor Co.
• Executive vice president and CFO Marianne Parrs plans to retire from International Paper at the end of 2007, after more than three decades with the company. She joined the company as a pension trust investment manager and later served as director of investor and shareowner relations, director of corporate communications, controller of printing papers, and staff vice president of tax. She held the CFO title from 1995 to 1999 and resumed the finance-chief duties in 2005. She also sits on the boards of CIT Group and Liaison Technologies, and she once served a four-year term on the Financial Accounting Standards Advisory Council. The company plans to announce Parrs’ successor later this year.
• Eric Brandt will join Broadcom Corp. as senior vice president and chief financial officer. His predecessor, William Ruehle, left the semiconductor maker in September, following the company’s review of its equity awards. Earlier this year, Broadcom took a $2.26 billion charge to correct for improperly recorded stock options and blamed its option woes on three former executives, including Ruehle, who had worked there for nearly 10 years. Controller Bruce Kiddoo had been filling in as interim CFO. Brandt formerly was CEO of Avanir, CFO of Allergan, and vice president and partner of The Boston Consulting Group.
• Frederick Beilstein, a former CFO of AFC Enterprises, the franchisor of Popeyes Chicken & Biscuits, will become the interim chief executive officer when CEO and president Kenneth Keymer leaves the company March 30. Beilstein was the finance chief from 2004 to 2005. While continuing to consult to AFC, Beilstein has been working as a managing partner of Equicorp Partners, an advisory services firm.
• Robert Merritt, a former CFO of Outback Steakhouse, is filling in as interim CEO of Cosi Inc. after Kevin Armstrong, its chief executive, resigned for health reasons. Merritt sits on the restaurant chain’s board of directors. Merritt gave up his finance-chief hat at Outback in mid-2005, frustrated by the regulatory environment and what he called the “lunacy over lease accounting.” Cosi has created a search committee to find Armstrong’s permanent replacement.
• Redhook Ale Brewery has appointed Jay Caldwell as chief financial officer and treasurer. He had been serving as the company’s controller, treasurer, and principal accounting officer since June 2006. Caldwell replaces David Mickelson, who will continue to hold the titles of president and chief operating officer.
• Ceridian Corp. has appointed Gregory Macfarlane, a former finance chief for General Electric, as CFO. Macfarlane will begin his job on March 26, replacing Douglas Neve, who left the company on March 8. Neve had worked at the information services company since 2005 and had previously served as a senior audit partner with Deloitte & Touche. Macfarlane most recently served as executive vice president and chief financial officer for GE-WMC Mortgage, which is owned by GE, where he worked for more than 13 years in various roles. His time at GE included stints as CFO of GE Partnership Marketing Group and CFO of GE Fleet Services Japan.
• Drink maker Cott Corp. has named Juan Figuereo, a former Wal-Mart executive as chief financial officer. He succeeds Tina Dell’Aquila, who had served as interim CFO. Since 2003, Figuereo had served as vice president for mergers and acquisitions. He previously spent 15 years with PepsiCo in a variety of international finance and general management roles. Figuereo had CFO duties for Frito Lay in Southern Europe and for Pepsi-Cola in Brazil and Latin America. He also spent three years as managing director of Frito Lay Dominicana.
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Charles Leonard has resigned as chief financial officer of EGL, after less than a year on the job. The global freight forwarder and logistics provider gave no reason for Leonard’s departure. Previously, Leonard was finance chief of Transport Holdings and senior vice president and CFO of the general partner of TEPPCO Partners.
• Zila has named Lawrence Gyenes chief financial officer. Before joining the oral-cancer diagnostic company, Gyenes held the CFO or top financial positions at several companies, including G.D. Searle & Co., Reliant Pharmaceuticals, Savient Pharmaceuticals, Helene Curtis, and CompuServe.