Coming to Comerica: CFO as CEO

Management at Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Art Technology Group Inc. named Ed Terino as its new finance chief, replacing Ann Brady, who resigned in April.Terino joins ATG, which makes e-commerce platforms for corporate Web sites, from Applix Inc., where he was also CFO. In addition, he has held...

By Lisa Yoon • Sept. 27, 2001

CFOs-Turned-CEOs: The View from the Other Side of the Desk

So you want to be a CEO? Wanna be in charge? The Big Cheese?Well, these days it is increasingly common for CFOs to ascend to the CEO job. According to research by Spencer Stuart recruiter E. Peter McLean, 20 percent of the CEOs appointed in 2000 spent time in the finance ranks. While he has no hi...

By Stephen Barr • Sept. 27, 2001

Lesson for Sylvan Learning: Promote from Within

Five months ago the executive management team at Baltimore- based company Sylvan Learning Systems Inc. reported it had begun a search for a new CFO. Yesterday, that search ended right where it began: in Baltimore. CEO Doug Becker announced management had decided to promote Sean Creamer, the compa...

By Lisa Yoon • Sept. 26, 2001

Fear of Flying? Corporate Travel Policies Changing

Even before the terror attacks of September 11, many CFOs were revisiting their T&E policies. Generally, such revisits involved streamlining expense reporting and nixing the use of travel agents. But now, with the unsettling knowledge that a commercial jet can be turned into a weapon of mass ...

By Jennifer Caplan • Sept. 26, 2001

Genus Move? Former E-trade Controller Switches Circuit

Internet media company RealNetworks Inc. named Brian Turner senior vice president and CFO. Turner replaces Paul Bialek, who stepped down in July at the same time that the Los Angeles-based company reported second-quarter earnings that were below expectations.Turner joins RealNetworks from softwar...

By Lisa Yoon • Sept. 25, 2001

Ever Leaving Las Vegas? Gaming Systems Vet Promoted

George MacKenzie joined PH Glatfelter, a York, Pennsylvania-based specialty paper company, as chief financial officer. Mackenzie replaces Matthew Smith, who has been named corporate controller.Early last month, managers at PH Glatfelter completed the sale of the company’s Ecusta division, which p...

By Jennifer Caplan • Sept. 21, 2001

Background Checks on Workers: Prudent or Paranoid?

Immediately following the events of September 11, employers pondering how to prevent terrorists from wreaking further devastation looked mostly at their corporate travel policies and network security. But one security expert says corporate managers might want to pay attention to their own worker ...

By David Katz • Sept. 20, 2001

From Soup to Wing Nuts: Campbell’s CFO Jumps to Staples

Basil Anderson, the former Campbell Soup CFO, was hired as vice chairman at Staples Inc., the second-largest supplier of office products in the U.S. Anderson will report to Ronald Sargent, Staples’s president and chief operating officer, who will take over as chief executive officer in February. ...

By Jennifer Caplan • Sept. 20, 2001

Off Site, but On File

Just after the 9/11 attacks, human resources and risk management experts focused on the immediate disaster-recovery effort. Mostly, the focusing entailed searching for survivors and delivering sad messages to family members of the missing.But with the Bush Administration laying the groundwork for...

By David Katz • Sept. 20, 2001

Covansys Taps New Finance Chief

Managers at Covansys Corp., a Farmington Hills, Michigan-based technology services company, named Michael Duffey executive vice president and chief financial officer. He replaces Tim Manney. In his new role, Duffey will oversee all global finance functions, as well as accounting, tax, treasury, a...

By Jennifer Caplan • Sept. 19, 2001

Finding Ways to Reassure Employees

A measure of a good manager is knowing how to respond to the needs of employees. But how do you respond to their fears if the worst terrorist attack in American history just happened in your backyard? asks the New York Times.A report in today’s edition of the newspaper cites examples of how sever...

By CFO Editorial Staff • Sept. 19, 2001

Getting a Better Fix on Country Risk

Right now, it’s hard to tell just how the US ”War on Terrorism” will play out. But clearly, such a battle will make it damned difficult for multinational corporations to conduct business in certain parts of the world. The question is: how will the recent terrorist attacks in the US — and the resu...

By Alix Stuart • Sept. 19, 2001

Slice of Life: Vignette Hires New CFO

Covad Communications, a broadband services provider founded by former Intel Corp. employees, announced that Mark Richman has joined the company as chief financial officer. Covad offers DSL, IP, and dial-up services, through Internet service providers and telecommunications carriers, to small and ...

By Jennifer Caplan • Sept. 18, 2001

Keeping Tabs on Off-Site Employees

Immediately following the Sept. 11 attacks on the U.S., human resources and risk management experts focused on the immediate disaster-recovery effort. Mostly, the focusing entailed searching for survivors and delivering sad messages to family members of the missing.But with the Bush Administratio...

By David Katz • Sept. 18, 2001

Getting the Other Side to Say Yes

It is said that life is one long negotiation, and Roger Fisher could not agree more. The Harvard Law School professor argues that whether it’s settling a diplomatic crisis or working out the details of a multi-billion-dollar merger, the mechanics of all negotiations are essentially the same. And ...

By A CFO Interview • Sept. 14, 2001

Days of Wine and Closes: Kendall-Jackson CFO To Retire

Alfred Rossow Jr., a veteran of the beverage industry, is retiring as CFO at Kendall-Jackson Wine Estates Ltd. Rossow joined the Santa Rosa, California-based winemaker in 1999, coming over from The Boston Beer Co. Rossow served as executive vice president, CFO, and director at the New England-bas...

By Lisa Yoon • Sept. 11, 2001

Hollywood Ending? Stand-in Fights to Fix Frederick’s

Want more proof that turnarounds are more challenging in this economy than they were during the last recession? Consider the task facing Craig Boucher, interim CFO at Frederick’s of Hollywood. (Boucher is on loan from Irvine, Calif.-based Crossroads LLC.)Not only is he fixing a highly leveraged b...

By Tim Reason • Sept. 10, 2001

CFO Resigns After Tissue Maker Reports Material Problems

Managers at American Tissue Inc. announced today that CFO Edward Stein resigned after it became apparent that the company’s recent consolidated financial statements contained ”material inaccuracies.” The errors occurred in statements for the company’s fiscal years ended September 30, 1999 and 200...

By Jennifer Caplan • Sept. 7, 2001

Accounting for Retired Stock

Q: My husband, brother-in-law, and father-in-law started a printing company in 1972. All shares of stock were owned by these family members. The corporation has purchased all of my father-in-law’s stock, which is now accounted for as treasury stock. We are ready to retire the stock, but I am not ...

By CFO Editorial Staff • Sept. 7, 2001

Lucent Sued Over Pension Plan

Yet another scene from the tech wreck. A former employee of Lucent Technologies Inc. filed a class action lawsuit, alleging that the phone equipment maker harmed its pension and benefits plans by investing in Lucent stock as the shares plunged in value, according to Bloomberg.The lawsuit, filed T...

By Stephen Taub • Sept. 6, 2001

E*Trade Makes Title Cuts

Unlike many of its peers, E*Trade Group Inc. has avoided laying off employees this year. But according to the Wall Street Journal, the online-brokerage firm has found a creative way of reducing its work force: The Menlo Park, Calif., firm recently knocked down the titles of many of its senior man...

By CFO Editorial Staff • Sept. 6, 2001

Rock of Ages Chalks Up New CFO

Officials at life insurance and investment firm Protective Life Corp. tapped Allen Ritchie as chief financial officer, a newly created position. Prior to joining Protective, Ritchie was CEO at Per-Se Technologies Inc., a physician practice-management-services company. He also served as president ...

By Jennifer Caplan • Sept. 6, 2001

Consumers Don’t Cause Health-Plan Woes, Study Finds

When there’s a foul-up in health care, it’s most often not the consumer who’s at fault.That’s the message that can be gleaned from new researh by Hewitt Associates, the Lincolnshire, Ill.-based consulting firm. According to a Hewitt release, 71 percent of reported “escalated issues” in health car...

By CFO Editorial Staff • Sept. 5, 2001

How-dee! Grand Ole Opry Welcomes New Finance Chief

Officials at Gaylord Entertainment Co., which operates the Grand Ole Opry, the country music venue in Nashville, appointed David Kloeppel chief financial officer. He replaces Denise Wilder Warren, who resigned in late July.This is an intriguing career switch for Kloeppel. He comes to Gaylord from...

By Jennifer Caplan • Sept. 5, 2001

NCR Rings Up New CFO

Intergraph Corporation, a Huntsville, Ala.-based systems integration provider, appointed Larry Laster executive vice president and chief financial officer. Laster is a member of Intergraph’s board of directors and served as Intergraph’s CFO from 1987 through 1997. He is also chief financial offic...

By Jennifer Caplan • Sept. 4, 2001