Insituform Technologies Inc. has found a chief financial officer after the position remained vacant for 19 months.
The provider of sewer services and technologies promoted vice president and controller David Martin to vice president and CFO. A 14-year veteran of the company, he became the principal financial and accounting officer in January 2006 soon after CFO Christian Farman resigned. When the company announced Farman’s departure, president and CEO Thomas Rooney Jr. said the company was embarking on an immediate national search for a new finance chief.
However, on Tuesday, the company officially decided that an internal candidate was the best choice. “As we considered various candidates for the post, our board also watched David Martin grow and perform in his role as principal financial and accounting officer, and today we are quite confident that he is the right person to serve as CFO on a permanent basis,” said Alfred Woods, a director since 1997 and non-executive chairman of the board since 2003.
In fact, Rooney pushed off questions about the ongoing CFO search during an investor conference call last year. “The beauty of having someone as strong as David Martin here is I’m not rushed,” he said. “We’re not rushed.”
While Woods and other company officials can finally check off filling the CFO position off their to-do list, a wider shuffling in the executive ranks has created another big vacancy — this time, in the corner office. Rooney abruptly resigned this week and will be replaced by Woods on an interim basis.
Woods attributed Rooney’s departure after four years to a disagreement over how he was planning to pull the company out of a slow-growth period. “Our growth has stalled as overall sewer rehab spending in the domestic market has stagnated,” said Woods. “Our board and our CEO disagreed on a number of stylistic and strategic issues regarding the company’s growth objectives and the board therefore has accepted Mr. Rooney’s resignation.”
Insituform was founded in 1971. The company is known for its less invasive and less disruptive methods for fixing sewer, water and industrial pipelines. Last year, it earned nearly $25 million on $597 million in revenues. Its market capitalization is around $420 million.