Cardinal Bankshares Corp., the small Floyd, Va.-based bank holding company that emerged victorious after a long, unsuccessful whistle-blower complaint brought by a former chief financial officer, has named a new CFO.
In a regulatory filing, Cardinal said its appointment of Alan Dickerson as vice president and CFO was effective June 11. He most recently was CFO, secretary, and treasurer for Independence Lumber, but has spent 20 years in various private industries, Cardinal said.
Dickerson replaces Stephanie K. Sigman, who resigned as a Cardinal senior vice president in May. At that time, the bank said that Sigman left to relocate to Chattanooga, Tenn., to work with a local accounting firm in a senior position, and to be closer to her family. Cardinal also noted that Sigman had no disagreements with the company or its management concerning accounting, auditing or financial reporting matters.
Earlier this month, we reported that former Cardinal CFO David Welch had lost his whistle-blower case five years after becoming the first person to win protection under the whistle-blower provision of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.
The Department of Labor’s Administrative Review Board ruled that it would not adopt an administrative law judge’s recommendation to reinstate Welch and award him back pay. The reason was that the judge erred legally, according to the board at the time.
Welch had claimed that he was fired from Cardinal after he raised questions about the company’s accounting policies and internal controls and later refused to certify its financial results.
Cardinal had argued that Welch was suspended and later fired solely because he refused to meet with an independent auditor and an attorney representing the company if his lawyer wasn’t present.