Wells Fargo CFO Ross Kari has left the San Francisco-based bank holding company to take up the same post at myCFO, a wealth advisory firm founded two years ago, effective next month. The move, which was announced by the firms this morning, comes on the heels of a Tuesday, July 17, earnings update that showed Wells Fargo posting a net $87 million loss, or five cents a share, for the second quarter. The year-earlier quarter saw a profit of $1.04 billion, or 61 cents a share.
The loss was driven mainly by a $1.1 billion after-tax charge for losses in the firm’s huge venture capital portfolio of mostly technology and telecommunications investments
Kari, who reportedly decided in April to leave and pursue other opportunities, joined Wells Fargo in 1983 as an analyst in the Finance Group. He became vice president of financial planning four years later and was elected CFO in 1998. He will be replaced by Howard Atkins, a former CFO of New York Life Insurance Co.
- The New York Times Company has named Leonard P. Forman, a senior vice president, to replace John M. O’Brien, senior vice president and CFO, when he retires at the end of the year. Forman, who has a media resume dating back to 1974, when he started 12 years as director of corporate planning and chief economist at The New York Times Company, has also served in executive posts Telemundo, the Newspaper Association of America, and a Nynex/Newsday joint venture. He rejoined the Times in 1996.
- Burger King Corp. has appointed Bennett Nusbaum as CFO, effective July 31. Nussbaum, who joins the firm from Kinko’s, where he has been senior vice president and CFO for the past four years, has been brought on board the Miami, Fla.-based food chain to help with its separation from beverage conglomerate Diageo Plc., according to the company announcement. Prior to his stint at Kinko’s Nusbaum spent 25 years with Pepsico in a variety of roles, including CFO of Pepsi-Cola International. Tom Giordano, executive vice president and CIO, will be leaving Burger King, effective Aug. 31, “as a result of the new structure” that created the job for Nusbaum.
- Andrew Hajducky, who recently left CMGI, has landed a CFO job at GiantLoop Network, a Waltham, Mass.-based provider of enterprise optical networking services and technology.
- Tellme Networks, a Mountain View, Calif.-based Internet technology firm with AT&T and Netscape Communications founder Jim Clark among its backers, has named Robert Komin as its first CFO.
- ValueVision International has promoted Dick Barnes, its executive vice president and CFO, to the position of COO. Barnes, who joined the company in 1999, will also continue to hold his old titles.