CFOs on the Move

• Dow Jones & Co. has named William Plummer executive vice president and chief financial officer, effective September 5. Plummer will succeed Chris Vieth, who has been Dow Jones’ vice president and CFO since July 2002. Vieth is leaving Dow Jones to pursue other career opportunities, the company said in a press release. Plummer is currently vice president and treasurer at Alcoa. Before joining Alcoa in 2000, Plummer spent three years at Mead Corp., including time as president of one of its operating units and as vice president for corporate strategy and planning. He also spent seven years at General Electric in executive financial management roles.

• Taser International has promoted chief financial officer Kathleen Hanrahan to president of the electronic control devices company, effective October 23. She has also served as Taser’s chief operating officer.

• Merkle has hired Rick Gross as its chief financial officer, a new position for the database marketer. Gross previously served as vice president of ARC International and CFO of a global technology company and a regional staffing firm. He also held various senior-level management positions at Hechinger Co.

• Advanstar Communications has tapped Theodore Alpert to be vice president of finance and chief financial officer of Advanstar Inc., Advanstar Communications, and affiliates, effective September 12. Alpert succeeds David Montgomery, who will remain with Advanstar through October 31. Alpert most recently served as CFO of IPS, and he has served as executive vice president and CFO at both Transtar Metal Holdings and Centis.

• Alpharma has appointed Jeffrey Campbell as interim CFO. He replaces Matthew Farrell who resigned as executive vice president and chief financial officer, effective mid-September. Farrell will be joining another publicly traded company as its CFO. Campbell joined the pharmaceutical company in 2002 as vice president and corporate controller, and has been vice president of finance since April 2005.

• SM&P Utility Resources, a subsidiary of The Laclede Group, has appointed Kevin Beauchamp as chief financial officer. He most recently served as vice president of operations of The Steak ‘n Shake Co., where he first served as a controller. He was also director of accounting for a division of The Limited ,and a senior manager at Price Waterhouse.

• Tessera Technologies announced that Charles Webster will become executive vice president and chief financial officer, effective August 28. Previously, Webster was corporate vice president of finance and treasury of KLA-Tencor, where he also once served as vice president of supply chain management and vice president of materials. He also is hte former executive vice president and CFO of Nextant.

• Paul Higgins has resigned as chief financial officer and director of Palladon Ventures. The board has appointed Donald Foot, the president and chief operating officer, as acting CFO. A junior resource company, Palladon explores and develops mineral resource projects.

• SaVi Media Group has hired Phil Scott as chief financial officer. SaVi’s previous CFO, George Hukriede, will serve as a consultant during Scott’s transition. Scott previously served as vice president of development for Heritage Medical Systems, and as CFO of SurgiCare, PSX, and a real estate development company acquiring and constructing medical office buildings.

• Anthony Mendicino, senior vice president of finance and chief financial officer of UGI, will retire next spring. Mendicino has been CFO since September 1998. He previously had served as treasurer of UGI in the early 1980s. He had left UGI to serve as senior vice president and CFO of UTI.

• Oco has appointed Andrea Franz as chief financial officer of the software company. Franz previously served as president and founder of Franz Associates and vice president and chief financial officer of Environmental Science Services.

• Portola Pharmaceuticals has appointed Mardi Dier chief financial officer. She most recently served as vice president of investor relations for Chiron until Novartis Pharmaceuticals acquired it in April 2006. She also served as a director in the life sciences practice at Prudential Securities.

• Modtech Holdings has named Kenneth Cragun chief financial officer. Cragun served as interim CFO since June 21, when Dennis Shogren, Modtech’s prior CFO, was named president and chief executive officer of the modular building designer and manufacturer. Previously, Cragun was senior vice president and principal accounting officer at MIVA, CFO of ImproveNet, CFO and controller of NetCharge.com, and corporate controller of C-Cube Microsystems.

• Avici Systems has named William Stuart chief financial officer and senior vice president of finance and administration. He replaces Paul Brauneis, who resigned in May to join another company. Stuart previously served as a general partner at venture capital firm Still River Funds.

• RWI Ventures has appointed Alexis Lakes as chief financial officer. Previously, she served as CFO at CMEA Ventures and was the finance chief of Gabriel Venture Partners.

• Belden has appointed Gray Benoist vice president of finance and chief financial officer. Benoist most recently served as senior vice president and director of finance of the networks segment of Motorola. Belden designs, manufactures, and markets signal transmission products for data networking.

• LogicalApps, a provider of embedded governance software for enterprise applications, announced that Peter Harker has joined the company as its chief financial officer. Previously, Harker served as CFO at Medidata Solutions and Optum, as well as controller and CFO positions at GTI, Photomatrix, and National Medical Computer Services.