Managers at Dave & Buster’s Inc., an operator of entertainment eateries, named W.C. Hammett Jr. to the CFO post.
Hammett started his career in public accounting with PricewaterhouseCoopers in 1968. He then served as controller for Spartan Food Systems Inc. from 1973 to 1988. During his time with that company, Spartan Foods grew from 70 to more than 600 Hardee’s and Quincy’s brand restaurants in 10 states. Hammett also spent five years at Motel 6, an operator of more than 800 hotels throughout the United States, most recently serving as the company’s chief financial officer. He then joined La Quinta Inns Inc. as senior vice president of accounting and administration, and was later promoted to the CFO post.
Most recently, Hammett has worked as a consultant for a variety of companies. Since 1992 he has also served on the board of directors at Pegasus Solutions Inc., a provider of hotel industry technology. Dave & Buster’s was founded in 1982 and operates 31 Dave & Buster’s stores throughout the United States. The company also has international license agreements for the Pacific Rim, Canada, the Middle East, and Mexico.
Management at Saddle Brook, New Jersey-based Sealed Air Corp., the maker of Bubble Wrap and Jiffy Protective mailers, announced that David Kelsey will replace Daniel van Riper as vice president and chief financial officer.
Kelsey joins Sealed Air from Oglebay Norton Co., a Cleveland-based miner and marketer of industrial minerals. Prior to that he spent 20 years at General Electric Co., including 14 years with GE Capital. While there, he held a variety of positions in financial and general management.
Kelsey holds a degree in civil and geological engineering from Princeton University and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. Van Riper, who has been CFO at Sealed Air since 1998, will leave his post at the end of the year.
His successor will have a challenging job. Sealed Air’s net earnings fell almost 19 percent in the third quarter. Management also reported it would cut 70 jobs in the fourth quarter — that’s in addition to 230 layoffs already announced. All told, Sealed Air is reducing its global workforce — about 14,000 employees — by about 2 percent.
James Matthews is the new head of finance at Huntsville, Alabama-based Adtran Inc., a producer of digital transmission equipment for the telecommunications industries. Matthews replaces John Cooper, who left the company for personal reasons. Matthews joins Adtran from Home Wireless Networks, a vendor of wireless voice and data networks for the home and small business markets, where he was also CFO.
Adtran’s sales in the third quarter dropped considerably, down to $95 million from $127 million in Q3 of 2000. Net income for the quarter declined to $4.9 million versus $21 million in the year-ago quarter. Earnings per share for the quarter came in at 13 cents per share, down from 54 cents per share in Q3 of 2000.
John Sayward, CFO and treasurer at Generic-drug maker Sicor Inc., announced his resignation for personal reasons. Management at the Irvine, California-based company did not immediately name a successor, but said a search has begun. Revenues at Sicor increased 26 percent, up to $90.6 million this year.
