CFO Moves this week include:
West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. | Career Education Corporation | LexaGene Holdings Inc. |
Sixpoint Partners | Geisinger | Assist America, Inc |
Banner Corporation | Poseida Therapeutics Inc. | Computer Services, Inc. |
Blade Therapeutics | GTreasury | Nanometrics Incorporated |
SUPERVALU INC. | CSG | Healthwise |
ALM Media | Avid Bioservices, Inc. | Credible |
Sequential Brands Group, Inc. | Isabella Bank Corporation | Riot Blockchain, Inc. |
Astreya | The Lubrizol Corporation | Maxar Technologies Ltd. |
WorkWave | GlobalSCAPE, Inc. | Garden Fresh Restaurants LLC |
Smead Capital Management |
Would you like to receive our weekly CFO Moves directly in your email? Click the SIGN ME UP! button on the right of the blog page.
Should you have any CFO Moves to report, please email us.
NOTE: CFO Search Report available monthly to CFOs only. Read more here.
CFO Moves is published by Samuel Dergel (Executive Search Consultant and CFO & Financial Executive Search Specialist with Dergel Executive Search). Samuel can be reached by email at samuel@dergelcfo.com or by phone at +1 (415) 738-2070.
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. [EXTON, Pa.] (NYSE: WST) announced William Federici, Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer, has communicated his intention to retire later this year.
Career Education Corporation [SCHAUMBURG, Ill.] (NASDAQ: CECO) announced the appointment of Ashish Ghia as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Ghia has served as Interim Chief Financial Officer since September 21, 2017. Mr. Ghia joined the Company in June 2008 and has served in various financial planning and analysis roles with increasing responsibility, including as Vice President Finance since February 2016 and Vice President Financial Planning & Analysis from October 2012 through January 2016. Mr. Ghia has also served as Assistant Treasurer of the Company since August 2016. Prior to joining the Company in June 2008, Mr. Ghia was a Business Finance Manager with Sears Holdings Corporation from 2006 to 2008 and also held associate positions with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP and Ernst & Young.
LexaGene Holdings Inc. [BEVERLY, Mass.] (OTCQB: LXXGF, TSX-V: LXG) announced the appointment of Jeffrey Mitchell as Chief Financial Officer, replacing Zula Kropivnitski. Before joining LexaGene, he served in positions of increasing responsibility including Controller and Director of Finance for Palomar Medical Technologies, Inc. In addition to his many years at Palomar, Mr. Mitchell has served in numerous financial and strategic advisory roles for medical device, imaging, and diagnostic companies.
Sixpoint Partners [NEW YORK] announced the appointment of Markus Schmalhofer as Chief Financial Officer. Previously, Mr. Schmalhofer was Chief Financial Officer for Europe, America and the Middle East at ANZ Securities.

Kevin V. Roberts
Geisinger [DANVILLE, Pa.] has named Kevin V. Roberts its new executive vice president and chief financial officer. Roberts succeeds Kevin Brennan who announced his retirement at the end of 2017 after more than 20 years with the health system. Brennan will remain at Geisinger through June when he will become Chair of Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA). Roberts joins Geisinger from BJC HealthCare, St. Louis, Missouri, where he served as senior vice president and chief financial officer.
Assist America, Inc. [PRINCETON, N.J.] announced the promotion of Ernesto T. Estillore to Chief Financial Officer. Ernesto joined Assist America in November of 2015 as Director of Finance.
Banner Corporation [WALLA WALLA, Wash.] (NASDAQ GSM: BANR) announced that Lloyd W. Baker will be retiring from both his position as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of the Company and Executive Vice President of Banner Bank. Peter J. Conner, currently Executive Vice President of Banner Bank, will assume the same position at the Company following Mr. Baker’s retirement. Lloyd W. Baker joined Banner Bank in 1994 as Asset/Liability Manger. He has served as Chief Financial Officer of the Company since 2000 and of Banner Bank from 2000 to October 2015. He began his banking career in 1973. Peter J. Conner joined Banner Bank in 2015 upon the acquisition of AmericanWest. Prior to joining Banner Bank he was the Chief Financial Officer for SKBHC LLC, and AmericanWest Bank from 2010 until he joined Banner Bank in 2015. Mr. Conner has 28 years of experience in the financial services industry including executive finance positions at Wells Fargo Bank as well as regional community banks. Additionally, he spent time as a managing director for FSI Group.
Poseida Therapeutics Inc. [SAN DIEGO] announced that Mark J. Gergen has joined the company as chief business officer and chief financial officer. Mr. Gergen was most recently the senior vice president and chief operating officer of Halozyme Therapeutics. Prior to Halozyme he was executive vice president of Mirati Therapeutics where he had responsibility for all business operations of the company, including functions of both COO and CFO. From 2005 until the sale of Amylin Pharmaceuticals to Bristol-Myers Squibb in August 2012, Mark was the senior vice president of corporate development. Previously, he also held leadership positions with CardioNet, Advance Tissue Sciences, and Medtronic.
Computer Services, Inc. [PADUCAH, Ky.] (OTCQX: CSVI) has named Andras Bende as its next chief financial officer. Bende will replace David Simon, who is retiring in June after twenty-three years of service as chief financial officer. Bende joins CSI after having held a variety of leadership roles at GE Capital. He most recently served as chief financial officer for Bank BPH, in Warsaw, Poland. Prior to his position at Bank BPH, he also held other leadership roles within GE Capital including global chief financial officer for GE Working Capital Solutions and controller (Europe) for GE Corporate Financial Services.
Blade Therapeutics [SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.] announced the appointment of Ryan Maynard as Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Maynard joins Blade with over 16 years of financial leadership experience, most recently as Executive Vice President and CFO of Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Mr. Maynard currently serves on the board of directors for Iovance Biotherapeutics.

Brent Coles
GTreasury [CHICAGO] announced that Brent Coles is its new Chief Financial Officer. Coles comes to GTreasury from BluePay Processing of Naperville, IL, where he had served as CFO since May, 2014. Prior to that, he spent seven years as CFO of Columbus Data Services of Dallas, Texas. He had previously been SVP, Finance with eFunds Corporation of Scottsdale, AZ. He was also a senior manager with Answerthink Consulting of Miami, FL. Coles began his business career with a two-year tenure as a manager at Ernst and Young.
Nanometrics Incorporated [MILPITAS, Calif.] (NASDAQ: NANO) announced that Jonathan H. Chou will join Nanometrics as its chief financial officer. Mr. Chou brings to Nanometrics over 25 years of financial leadership and management. He joins after more than seven years with Kulicke & Soffa Industries Inc. where he served as CFO since 2010 and also served as interim chief executive officer from October 2015 through October 2016. For the three years prior to Kulicke & Soffa, Mr. Chou was the CFO of Feihe International. Prior to his U.S.-listed company CFO roles, Mr. Chou held Asia Pacific Regional CFO roles with companies including Honeywell International, Tyco International and Lucent Technologies. Mr. Chou currently serves on the board of directors of MicroPort Scientific.
SUPERVALU INC. [MINNEAPOLIS] (NYSE: SVU) announced that Rob Woseth has been promoted to the position of Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Woseth, who has held the position of EVP, Chief Strategy Officer with the Company since March 2013, has also served as the Company’s interim CFO since July 2017. Woseth joined SUPERVALU’s executive team in 2013. Prior to SUPERVALU, he served as Vice President, Business Development and Strategy at Albertson’s LLC. He has also held financial leadership positions as Vice President, Research, for Water Tower Capital, LLC and as Vice President, Investment Banking, at U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray.
CSG [GREENWOOD VILLAGE, Colo.] (NASDAQ: CSGS) announced that Randy Wiese, its executive vice president and chief financial officer, will retire.

Elizabeth Beem
Healthwise [BOISE, Idaho] announced that Elizabeth Beem will assume the position of Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Beem joined Healthwise in 2014 and previously served as Senior Vice President of Finance. Before joining Healthwise, Elizabeth spent 17 years at Hewlett-Packard, where she held several leadership roles in finance, business planning and analytics, and business operations. Beem previously worked as the assistant controller for Smith Sport Optics and an accounting auditor for Arthur Andersen.
ALM Media [NEW YORK] announced that Mark Fried has joined ALM as Chief Financial Officer and President, Events. Fried joins ALM after serving as President and CEO of Vendome Group.
Avid Bioservices, Inc. [TUSTIN, Calif.] (NASDAQ: CDMO) announced that Paul J. Lytle notified the company of his intent to resign his position as chief financial officer.
Credible [SAN FRANCISCO] announced that it has appointed Chris Bishko as chief financial officer. With over 20 years of experience in technology and financial services as an investor and investment banker, Mr. Bishko joins Credible from Omidyar Technology Ventures, where he was a partner focused. Mr. Bishko also brings direct experience in marketplace lending, having served as a board member of Prosper Marketplace since 2013. Prior to joining The Omidyar Group, Mr. Bishko worked at JPMorgan as an investment banking client officer. He began his career with JPMorgan Capital Corp.
Sequential Brands Group, Inc. [NEW YORK] (NASDAQ: SQBG) announced the appointment of Peter Lops as Chief Financial Officer. He assumes the role from President and Interim CFO Andrew Cooper, who will continue to serve as President. Mr. Lops joins Sequential from Viacom Media Networks where he served as the Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer for the Distribution and Business Development division. Prior to that, he served as Senior Vice President of Financial Planning and Analysis of Viacom Media Networks. Before joining Viacom, Mr. Lops was Vice President of Finance for Fox Television Stations, Inc. For nine years, he held financial roles at the National Football League serving as Vice President of Financial Planning and Analysis, Finance Director and Controller. Early in his career, he worked at Andersen LLP.
Isabella Bank Corporation [MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich.] welcomes Neil McDonnell as Chief Financial Officer. McDonnell has built his career over 27 years in the financial services industry. He has served as chief financial officer, controller, treasurer, compliance & risk officer, and director of finance at large international banks, local community banks, as well as de novo banks.
Riot Blockchain, Inc. [CASTLE ROCK, Colo.] (NASDAQ: RIOT) announced that it has appointed Rob Chang as its Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Chang comes to Riot from Cantor Fitzgerald, where he served as Managing Director and Head of Metals & Mining. Mr. Chang has previously served as a Director of Research and Portfolio Manager at a Canadian investment firm.
Astreya [SANTA CLARA, Calif.] announced the appointment of Monica Hushen as Chief Financial Officer / Chief Operations Officer. Monica previously held the CFO/Operations role for Wonder Workshop. Prior to that, Monica has led growth strategies as CFO for 15+ years in both startups and established companies, such as NewRoads, uBeam, HashFast, Soundhawk, and ECS Refining. She has also held Operations/Finance leadership roles at HP, Palm, Apple, and GE.
The Lubrizol Corporation [Cleveland, Ohio] announced the promotion of J. Brian Pitts to corporate vice president, chief financial officer and treasurer. Brian Pitts succeeds Brian Valentine who has announced his decision to leave the organization later this year. Pitts has worked for Lubrizol since 1998 in accounting and finance assignments, including segment controller and positions in business finance, financial planning and analysis, and operations finance. In 2009, Pitts undertook a three-year expatriate assignment in Shanghai as the director of finance – Asia Pacific. From 2012 to 2015, he served as vice president of finance for Lubrizol’s Advanced Materials segment. In 2015, he was named general manager of TempRite® Engineered Polymers.
Maxar Technologies Ltd. [SAN FRANCISCO and VANCOUVER] (NYSE and TSX: MAXR) announced that William McCombe is stepping down as Chief Financial Officer of Maxar. Anil Wirasekara, who previously served as Chief Financial Officer of MDA from 1994 to October 2017, will assume the duties of Interim Chief Financial Officer of Maxar.
WorkWave [HOLMDEL, N.J.] announced that Bill Fahrbach has been promoted to Chief Financial Officer.
GlobalSCAPE, Inc. [SAN ANTONIO] (NYSE American: GSB) announced that James W. Albrecht, Jr., Chief Financial Officer of the Company, notified the Company of his decision to retire as an officer of the Company. Albrecht and the Company have agreed in principle to an arrangement in which, upon Albrecht’s retirement, he will serve as a consultant to the Company. In conjunction with Albrecht’s retirement, the Company intends to appoint Karen Young as its interim Chief Financial Officer. Young has served as the Company’s Controller since January 2015. From June 2014 to January 2015, Young was the owner of a CPA practice. Previously, Young served as Controller of PIC Business Systems, Inc., where she worked from December 2001 to June 2014. Young began her career at Valero Energy Corporation.
Garden Fresh Restaurants LLC [SAN DIEGO] announced the appointment of Donald Breen as chief financial officer. Breen joins the team from Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen, where he served for the past 10 years as chief financial officer and corporate secretary. His prior experience includes chief financial officer and senior management positions with Baja Fresh, Brothers Gourmet Coffee, Jamba Juice and Adolph Coors.
Smead Capital Management [SEATTLE] announced the hiring of Jameson Greenfield to the position of Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Greenfield comes to Smead after serving in several leading roles at BlackRock. Most recently, he oversaw the operational support of BlackRock’s Hedge Fund and Private Credit platforms. In addition, Jameson served as a Board member for several Luxembourg-based investment funds and was an active member of BlackRock’s Alternatives Leadership Committee and Alternatives Operating Committee.