• Merck & Co. has named Peter Kellogg executive vice president and CFO, effective August 14. Currently executive vice president and CFO of Biogen Idec, Kellogg replaces Judy Lewent, who is retiring from Merck after 27 years with the company. She was once considered a strong candidate for chief executive of the pharmaceutical company. Earlier in his career, Kellogg was with PepsiCo Inc., where he held senior financial and general management roles, including senior vice president of PepsiCo E-Commerce, as well as senior vice president and CFO of Frito Lay International. He was also a senior partner at Booz Allen & Hamilton and Arthur Andersen. Kellogg joined Biogen Inc. in 2000 as its CFO and took on the same title when the company merged with IDEC Pharmaceuticals, becoming Biogen Idec. The company has not yet announced its succession plan.
• Wyeth has replaced CFO Kenneth Martin with Greg Norden, who will be senior vice president and CFO. Norden was previously executive vice president and CFO at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals. He has held a variety of positions during his 18-year tenure at Wyeth, including CFO of American Home Food Products and CFO of Wyeth Laboratories North America. He started his career with Arthur Andersen. Martin left his position as CFO and vice chairman of the pharmaceutical company last month. He had been with Wyeth since 1984 and was the CFO since 2000.
• Discovery Communications
has created four new CFO positions to lead the corporate finance areas under several brands, including the Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet, and Planet Green. They will report to Neal Kirsch, executive vice president and CFO of U.S. Networks Finance. The company has filled three of the positions so far with Discovery veterans and has not yet appointed a network CFO for TLC, which is formalizing its structure under a new president. Kristen Welch, vice president for financial planning and analysis for U.S. Networks Finance, will be responsible for the Discovery Channel and The Science Channel. Ben Teicher, senior vice president and CFO of Discovery’s Education Division, will be responsible for Animal Planet, Discovery Kids Media, and Planet Green. He previously was an executive at The Walt Disney Co. and Nestlé USA. And Doug Baker, senior vice president and CFO of Discovery Commerce, will take on Discovery Health Media Enterprises and Digital Media, Emerging Networks, and Business Development.
• International Rectifier Corp.
has fired long-time CFO Michael McGee, several months into the company’s internal investigation into accounting irregularities at one of the firm’s foreign subsidiaries. In McGee’s place, the company named Linda Pahl, currently vice president of corporate finance, acting CFO. She joined the company in 1999 as director of global finance, and before that was vice president and CFO of Blue Cross of California at Wellpoint Health Networks Inc. International Rectifier CEO Alexander Lidow will take over Grant’s duties until a replacement is found. Before becoming CFO of International Rectifier, McGee was co-chief executive and chairman of Nihon Inter Electronics Corp.
• Direct marketer InfoUSA has appointed Alan Heckart as CFO of its services group. A two-year veteran of the company, Heckart will retain his titles of corporate controller and chief accounting officer. In addition, InfoUSA has appointed Ron Hanzlicek as CFO of the Market Research Group. He has been with the company for nine years.
• Electronics For Imaging has demoted former CFO Joseph Cutts to a non-executive role following the completion of its internal investigation into its past stock option granting process. Cutts, who served as CFO for six years, became chief operating officer and corporate secretary of EFI in April 2006. The company gave him the title of vice president but has not determined his responsibilities. The company’s special committee found that some stock option grants given to new employees between 1994 and 2003 were dated at a historical low stock price, and in some cases were dated before the employees began working. The company announced several “remedial actions” in light of this information, including Cutts’ job change.
• Wilbur Stover, vice president of finance and CFO of Micron Technology, will retire at the end of the company’s fiscal year after 13 years as finance chief. He joined the company in 1989 from Coopers & Lybrand, where he was an audit manager. Micron is searching for his replacement.
• Proofpoint Inc. has appointed Paul Auvil as CFO. Before joining the e-mail security provider, Auvil spent six months with Benchmark Capital as an entrepreneur-in-residence after leaving the CFO job at VMWare. He also worked at Vitria Technology as CFO and VLSI Technology as vice president of the Internet and secure products division.
• Lifetime Brands has appointed Laurence Winoker as senior vice president of finance, treasurer, and CFO to replace Robert McNally, who is retiring. Winoker was most recently senior vice president, controller, and treasurer of MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings. He has also been the senior vice president, corporate controller, and treasurer for Revlon Inc., and he has held various positions with Bastian Industries, Gulf & Western Industries, and Brout & Co.
• ViaCell Inc. has appointed John Thero as senior vice president of finance and CFO to replace Stephen Dance, who is leaving to pursue new opportunities, according to a company press release. Thero joins the biotechnology company from Acusphere Inc., where he was CFO. He also held the finance chief role at Abiomed Inc. He began his career at Arthur Andersen. Dance joined ViaCell in 2004 as senior vice president of finance and CFO. Before that, he was CFO at SangStat Medical Corp., and he was responsible for financial accounting and reporting at Plantronics Inc. He spent 15 years with Syntex Corp. in various finance positions, including controller of U.S. sales, marketing, and manufacturing operations.
• Metavante Corp., the financial technology subsidiary of Marshall & Ilsley Corp., has named Timothy Oliver senior executive vice president and CFO, effective July 23, to help the company prepare to become a separately traded company. He is currently vice president and treasurer of Rockwell Automation. He previously was vice president of investor relations and financial planning at Raytheon Co. He has also held bond trading and investment banking positions at Bear Stearns & Co. and at Kidder Peabody & Co. At Metavante, Oliver will replace Michael Hayford, who retained the CFO title when he became chief operating officer last year.
• John Doyle has resigned as senior vice president of corporate development and CFO of Renovis Inc. to purse another opportunity, according to a press release from the biopharmaceutical company. The company has no plans to replace Doyle, who had worked at the company for five years. Instead, they announced three promotions: George Fraley, to vice president of legal affairs and associate general counsel; Michael Ellis, from director of corporate development to senior director of corporate development; and Jeffrey Farrow, director of finance to vice president of finance and chief accounting officer. Farrow joined Renovis in 2004 from KPMG, where he was an auditor.