CFOs on the Move: Week Ending September 7

• Nissan Motor Co. has hired Alain Dassas as its first CFO in four years. He is currently the president of the Renault Formula One Team and has worked at Renault SA for 24 years. Nissan’s previous CFO, Thierry Moulonguet, left in 2003 for the top finance post at Renault. Since then, chief executive Carlos Ghosn, who is CEO of both Renault and Nissan, has performed Nissan’s finance duties as well. Dassas will begin his CFO duties at Nissan on September 17.

• In late September, Lawrence Molloy will begin working at PetSmart as senior vice president and CFO. He joins the pet retailer after serving four years in leadership roles at Circuit City Stores and the past year as CFO of retail there. Before going to Circuit City, Molloy served in various leadership and strategy roles for Capital One Financial, AGL Capital Investments, Deloitte & Touche Consulting Group, and the U.S. Navy. He replaces Timothy Kullman, who took on the CFO role at Dick’s Sporting Goods earlier this year. PetSmart’s announcement about Molloy’s new job also included a personal tidbit: he has a golden retriever named Denver and a hermit crab named Lily.

• Sycamore Networks CFO Richard Gaynor is leaving to pursue another employment opportunity, the company announced the same day it revealed its fourth-quarter and year-end financial results. Gaynor will leave at the end of the month. The company is searching for his replacement. Gaynor joined Sycamore nearly three years ago from Manufacturers Services Ltd., where he had been a controller. He replaced Frances Jewels.

• Karen Roscher will join Conexant Systems as senior vice president and CFO on September 10. She replaces J. Scott Blouin, who will be leaving the semiconductor company to pursue other opportunities. Blouin was promoted to CFO from chief accounting officer three years ago. Roscher previously worked in financial roles at Motorola and Freescale Semiconductor, which was spun-off from Motorola in 2004.

• Robert Rosholt will retire from his position as executive vice president and CFO of Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. in the first quarter of 2008. He is also executive vice president of finance, investments, and strategy for Nationwide Financial Services Inc. He will help transition his roles to Deloitte & Touche partner Larry Hilsheimer, who will begin working at Nationwide in October. Rosholt has been with the financial services company since 2002.

• Teton Energy Corp. has appointed its controller and chief accounting officer, William Brand, as its interim CFO. He will stay in that position until a permanent finance chief is found by executive placement firm Preng and Associates. The company’s former CFO, Bill Pennington, left for personal reasons but will join the Teton board of directors on September 14. He was appointed CFO in May 2006.

• Christopher Black, CFO of American Commercial Lines Inc., plans to leave the company when his employment agreement expires in February 2008. The marine transportation and service company is searching for his replacement.

• C. Timothy Trenary will join DURA Automotive Systems as vice president and CFO on September 16. He succeeds David Harbert, a Tatum LLP partner who had served as interim CFO during the company’s restructuring. Trenary previously worked at Collins & Aikman Corp. as CFO. He also worked at Federal-Mogul Corp. as director of financial services and processes and James Cable Partners as CFO. He began his career as an Ernst & Young auditor.

• A CytRx Corp. subsidiary has appointed Stephen DiPalma as CFO. His predecessor, James Warren, is leaving RXi Pharmaceuticals Corp. to pursue other opportunities. DiPalma co-founded Catalyst Oncology, a medicine company that recently merged with a public diagnostics company. While there, he held the titles of president and CEO. He has also served in the CFO role at Milkhaus Laboratory, Phytera Inc., Aquila Biopharmaceuticals, and Athena Diagnostics.

• Voice-over-IP provider Broadvox has named Randy Imhoff as its new vice president and CFO. He spent the past seven years at Dell, including positions in the computer company’s small and medium business area, as well as its internal IT organization. He also worked at Arthur Andersen as an audit partner.

• Donna Brandin has resigned from Equity Residential as executive vice president and CFO, effective September 14. She is resigning to pursue other professional and personal interests, the company said, and not because of a disagreement with the company over financial or accounting issues. The real estate company is searching for Brandin’s replacement. In the meantime, John Lennox, a senior vice president, will serve as interim CFO.

• John Steinbrun has resigned as senior vice president, CFO, and chief operating officer of frozen-foods maker Overhill Farms. He also resigned from the board of directors. He is leaving to become the CEO of another, undisclosed company outside the food industry. Before joining Overhill, Steinbrun served as CFO and COO of Metropolitan Provisions LLC and CFO and vice president of operations at Ancra International LLC. Steinbrun will be replaced as CFO on an interim basis by Tracy Quinn, who once served in a number of senior-level finance and operating positions at H.J. Heinz.