• The CFO of Leiner Health Products was fired from his position a year after one of the drug maker’s plants became the center of a Food and Drug Administration investigation into its manufacturing practices. The company did not give a reason for the firing of CFO Kevin McDonnell, who will receive a $300,000 compensation package. McDonnell will be replaced by Heidi Crane, the company’s senior vice president of finance. The company’s CEO resigned as well.
• Alok Misra will take over as CFO of WNS Ltd., the parent company of WNS Global Services, starting February 18. Misra was formerly the CFO at Electronic Data Systems Corporation MphasiS, where he worked for seven years.
• Carl Mautz, vice president and finance chief of Watson Wyatt Worldwide, will retire in August. The company has started a search to replace Mautz, who has been with the company for 10 years and led it through its initial public offering and numerous acquisitions.
• Archer Daniels Midland Co. has appointed its senior vice president of strategic planning, Steven Mills, to the CFO position, effective March 1. Mills will take over for CFO Douglas Schmalz, who will retire after a 23-year tenure at ADM. Mills has been with the company since 1979.
• Interactive media company CNET Networks has appointed Zander Lurie as its CFO to replace George Mazzotta, who will resign on March 7. Lurie comes from JPMorgan, where he was formerly a vice president of investment banking and led the firm’s equity and M&A divisions in its Internet sector.
• NewCardio Inc. has appointed Richard Brounstein as CFO. He was formerly CFO of Calypte Biomedical Corp., where he had been since 2001. He’s also been CFO for Certicom Corp. and VidaMed Inc.
• Walla Walla, Wash.-based Key Technology has named John Ehren as its CFO, effective February 25. Ehren has served in financial roles for the past 10 years at Planar Systems Inc. and served as CFO and senior vice president at two private companies.
• Keith Daniels took over as executive vice president and CFO of Ascendia Brands on February 4. He replaces interim CFO Jack Wissman. Daniels had been senior vice president of finance at the health and beauty care products company since March 2007.
• Robert Sinnott has taken over as CFO for Silverleaf Resorts Inc. He replaces Harry White, who held the position since 1998. White will remain with the company as chief accounting officer through May, when he will retire.
• SupportSoft Inc. has appointed Shelly Schaffer as CFO and executive vice president. Schaffer was formerly the vice president of corporate operations finance at Yahoo Inc. She begins her position at the end of February.
• Harald Wilhelm has been appointed CFO of Airbus, the European aircraft maker. Wilhelm, who was formerly deputy CFO, replaces Hans Peter Ring, who will retain his other position as CFO of EADS, Airbus’s parent company. Ring took on the finance chief’s role at Airbus in October 2006 after it became apparent — in the light of major manufacturing delays — that integration between Airbus and EADS needed improvement. Last month, Ring said that integration of the finance function had been achieved.
• Altadis, the Spanish-French tobacco company, has appointed Robert Dyrbus as its chief executive. Dyrbus was formerly finance director of Imperial Tobacco, the U.K. company that recently acquired Altadis.
• U.K.-based music company Chrysalis has appointed Andy Mollett as group finance director. Mollett joins Chrysalis from rival EMI Music Publishing.
• Thomas Müller, CFO of Swiss Life, the pensions and life insurance company, will take on the additional role of group chief risk officer following the departure of CRO Hans-Jürgen Wolter.
• Joergen Larsen, former CFO of Norwegian telecoms equipment group Eltek, has been appointed acting CEO after chief executive Morten Angelil was forced to step down temporarily amid insider trading charges. Larsen was most recently responsible for business development at Eltek.
• Russian aluminum producer Rusal has appointed Tatyana Soina as acting financial director. Soina, who has worked in Rusal’s budget and planning department since 2002, replaces Vladislav Soloviev, who is leaving to become CEO of EN+ Group, an energy and aluminum business that owns a controlling stake in Rusal.
• Nick Wharton, finance director of U.K. retailer Halfords, has been appointed acting joint managing director following chief executive Ian McLeod’s resignation. Halfords said it would select a successor to McLeod from a range of internal and external candidates.
• Elsewhere in U.K. retail, Carpetright finance director Ian Kenyon has resigned to become CFO of the retail and distribution division of The Carphone Warehouse. Carpetright has appointed an interim finance director while it searches for a permanent successor.
• Norway’s Aker Floating Production has appointed David Bandele as its new CFO. Bandele, formerly a vice president of finance, manufacturing, and supply chain management at General Electric, replaces Ivan Borner.