• Maurice Greenberg stepped down this week as chief executive officer of American International Group; rumors circulate that he may also surrender the chairmanship. Co-chief operating officer and vice chairman Martin Sullivan will take on the roles of CEO and president. AIG also announced that chief financial officer Howard Smith “has taken leave.” Assuming his responsibilities will be Steven Bensinger, who has been named executive vice president and CFO.
Bensinger, who joined the company in 2002, will also retain his current titles of treasurer and controller. Prior to joining AIG, Bensinger was executive vice president and CFO of Combined Specialty Group Inc., the insurance underwriting operations of Aon Corp. Before joining Aon, he was executive vice president of Trenwick Group Ltd., a position he assumed in October 1999 when Trenwick acquired Chartwell Re Corp., where Bensinger served as president and a director.
• Monster Worldwide Inc., parent company of the online job board Monster.com, announced three finance appointments. Lanny Baker was named senior vice president and chief financial officer, succeeding Michael Sileck, who is leaving to pursue other opportunities. Baker was recently a managing director in equity research at Smith Barney and covered Monster Worldwide for more than seven years.
Chris Power, finance chief of the Monster division, was appointed to the newly created position of CFO of global operations. Meanwhile, Monster Worldwide corporate controller Jon Trumbull was promoted to global controller and chief accounting officer.
• Company secretary Patrick Dowling will over as acting chief financial officer at Waterford Wedgwood Plc. Dowling, who has served in his current role at the Dublin-based tableware manufacturer since 1999, previously was finance director at Fitzwilton Plc. and chief executive officer for the Ireland offices of Bank of Chicago.
Dowling takes over for Paul D’Alton, who resigned as Waterford Wedgwood’s CFO and as a director to become the finance chief of AgCert International Ltd., which develops products to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions.
• Applebee’s International Inc. announced that H.G. Carrington Jr., senior vice president of finance, resigned to become chief financial officer for a privately held restaurant company in Texas. Carrington joined Overland Park, Kansas-based Applebee’s in January in the newly created position, which the restaurant chain does not plan to refill. Instead, CFO Steve Lumpkin will continue to own responsibility for all finance functions, as well as investor relations, legal, and international development.
• Chief financial officer Joe McGuire will serve as interim chief executive officer of electronics retailer Tweeter Home Entertainment Group Inc. The Canton, Massachusetts-based company announced that president and CEO Jeffrey Stone is leaving to become president and chief operating officer of Tivoli Audio LLC, a consumer electronics manufacturer in which Tweeter owns a 25 percent equity stake.
• Minneapolis-based American Express Financial Advisors, a unit of American Express Co., named Laura Gagnon as vice president of investor relations, reporting to chief financial officer Walter Berman. Gagnon spent 18 years at The St. Paul Cos. Inc., where she held various positions, including vice president of finance and investor relations. Last month American Express announced plans to pursue a spin-off to shareholders of American Express Financial Advisors.
• Michael Koridon joined Beverly Hills, California-based Yeahronimo Media Ventures Inc. as chief financial officer and executive vice president. Before joining the provider of digital media services and software, Koridon was CFO of Stockholm-based retail giant ICA AB. He has also served as regional controller at Hagemeyer N.V. and CFO at Asea Brown Boveri B.V.
• Mark M. Newdick joined Krauter & Co., a New York insurance brokerage, as chief financial officer. Most recently, Newdick was CFO at United Rentals; previously he was the finance chief of Aon’s mergers and acquisitions group.
• Red Bend Software announced that Udi Dagan has joined the company as chief financial officer. Previously Dagan worked at International Business Machines Corp., most recently as IBM’s business consulting services country manager in Israel; he has also held other finance and operations positions including finance chief of IBM Israel. Although Red Bend’s corporate headquarters are in Framingham, Massachusetts, Dagan will be based at the company’s R&D center in Israel.
• Calypso Technology Inc. named former PeopleSoft chief financial officer Ron Codd to its board of directors. As the San Francisco-based company’s first independent director, he will chair the audit committee and serve as the board’s financial expert. Codd worked at PeopleSoft for seven years, most recently as CFO, senior vice president of finance and administration, and secretary. After leaving the company, he became president, chief executive officer, and secretary at spin-out software firm Momentum Business Applications Inc., which was later repurchased by PeopleSoft.
