• JDS Uniphase Corp. named David Vellequette senior vice president and chief financial officer. Vellequette has been acting finance chief of the San Jose, California-based optics technology provider since February; he joined the company last year as vice president and operations controller. Previously, he held senior finance and operations positions at Openwave Systems, Cisco Systems, and Altera Systems. The company also named Paul Barics corporate controller, reporting to Vellequette.
• Trenton, New Jersey-based Journal Register Co. announced that recently appointed senior vice president and chief financial officer Joseph W. Pooler stepped down “by mutual agreement” with the newspaper publisher. The announcement came five days after Pooler’s appointment; no reason was given. President, chief operating officer, and former CFO Jean B. Clifton will assume Pooler’s responsibilities until the company names a replacement.
• Business consultancy CRA International Inc., formerly Charles River Associates, announced that chief financial officer J. Phillip Cooper was promoted to the newly created position of vice chairman and executive vice president. Wayne D. Mackie, former head of the firm’s technology practice in Boston, will succeed Cooper as vice president and CFO; he is expected to join CRA at the beginning of July. Mackie’s career includes 30 years at Arthur Andersen LLP, where he served as partner-in-charge of the Boston office’s technology practice; more recently he was managing director for financial operations at Beacon Capital Partners, a private equity firm focused on commercial real estate.
• Comerica Inc. named Paul E. Burdiss senior vice president and treasurer. Previously, Burdiss served as the officer-in-charge of capital planning and special finance projects at the Detroit-based banking company. Burdiss joined Comerica in 1989 and re-joined the company in 1997 after two years of service at another financial services provider.
• Plastics-processing specialist Milacron Inc. announced that Ross A. Anderson will become chief financial officer effective August 1. He succeeds Robert P. Lienesch, who is retiring at the end of July. Anderson, who will assume transitional duties beginning July 1, is currently general manager of the Cincinnati-based company’s North American plastics-injection-machinery business. He joined Milacron in 1989 and has held a number of positions, including company controller from 2002 to 2004. He will be succeeded by Glenn Anderson (no relation), who now serves as general sales manager for the North American injection-molding-machinery business.
• UCBH Holdings Inc., the holding company of United Commercial Bank, appointed board member Dennis Wu to the posts of executive vice president and chief financial officer. He succeeds executive vice president Jonathan H. Downing, who has served as CFO since 1989 and who has been appointed director of corporate development and investor relations. Wu (who is not related to chairman, president, and chief executive officer Thomas S. Wu, according to the company) joins UCBH after a 37-year career at Deloitte & Touche LLP, where he served as national managing partner for the firm’s Chinese Services Group since June 2000.
• Water-treatment specialist Nalco Holding Co. announced several changes in responsibility among its senior finance staff. Controller Bruno Lavandier was named division vice president of finance and business operations for Nalco’s energy services division. Frederic Jung, CFO of Nalco Europe B.V., was promoted to succeed Lavandier as controller of the Naperville, Illinois-based holding company, effective July 1. Philippe Creteur, group vice president and managing director of European operations and a former Nalco Holding controller, will take over as CFO for the European division. In addition, Nalco recently named Anthony Powell assistant treasurer and corporate audit director.
• Energy company Quicksilver Resources Inc. announced that executive vice president and chief financial officer Bill M. Lamkin will retire by the end of this year. Lamkin, who has held those positions since the Fort Worth, Texas-based company went public in 1999, has decided to devote more time to his personal life, according to the company.
• Boulder, Colorado-based Carrier Access Corp., a provider of broadband communications equipment, appointed Gary Gatchell executive vice president, chief financial officer, and treasurer. Gatchell takes over for Nancy Pierce, who was acting CFO since November 2004, and who will resume her former responsibilities as corporate development officer and secretary. Previously, Gatchell was the finance chief of Voyant Technologies Inc., a provider of enhanced voice and conferencing solutions; earlier he was CFO of Intertech Plastics and an audit manager at KPMG.
• Mark Thomas joined Bellevue, Washington-based Wireless Services Corp. as chief financial officer. Thomas was most recently CFO and senior vice president of business development for Terabeam Corp., which was sold to YDI Wireless. Earlier in his career, Thomas was a corporate and tax attorney with Davis Polk & Wardwell in Washington, D.C.; he also worked at AT&T and AT&T Wireless, including a stint as president of the wireless company’s aviation communication division.
