CFO Moves – week ending July 27, 2018

CFO Moves this week include:

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Michael Knott

EQ Office [CHICAGO] announced that Michael Knott will be joining the company as Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Knott spent the last 16 years at Green Street Advisors, and most recently served as Managing Director. He held various leadership positions during his Green Street tenure, including co-leading the firm’s overall REIT research team.

Cree, Inc. [DURHAM, N.C.] (NASDAQ: CREE) announced the appointment of Neill Reynolds as chief financial officer (CFO), effective Aug. 27. Reynolds will succeed Mike McDevitt at that time, per the transition plan announced in June. Reynolds joins from NXP Semiconductors N.V., where he serves as senior vice president of finance, strategy and procurement. Prior to NXP, his career includes more than 15 years as a finance leader with international technology companies including General Electric, where he held CFO positions in various businesses and served on management teams.

Ocean Spray Cranberries Inc. [LAKEVILLE, Mass. and MIDDLEBORO, Mass.] announced the appointment of Joseph Vanderstelt as SVP, Chief Financial Officer. Vanderstelt most recently was Chief Financial Officer at Craft Brewer Alliance. Prior to joining Craft Brewer Alliance, Joe spent 14 years at MillerCoors and Miller Brewing Company in various strategy and finance roles including Sr. Director Finance and Strategy.

Virginie Costa

Godiva Chocolatier [NEW YORK] announced the appointment of Virginie Costa as its Chief Financial Officer, effective August 6. Most recently, she served as Chief Financial & Operations Officer for Burberry Americas. Current Chief Financial Officer Selim Baraz has decided to leave the business at the end of December after six successful years in which he led the Global Finance, IT and Strategy teams.

Ziyen Inc. [SAN DIEGO] announced the appointment of Dean Holter as Chief Financial Officer and General Counsel to Ziyen Inc. Prior to joining Ziyen, Dean served as General Counsel and CFO to Christensen Global Strategies.

Alliance Data Systems Corporation [PLANO, Texas] (NYSE: ADS) announced that Charles Horn, its longtime CFO, has informed the Company of his intent to retire in 2019.

Brian Turcotte

ServiceMaster Global Holdings, Inc. [MEMPHIS, Tenn.] (NYSE: SERV) announced it has promoted Brian K. Turcotte to chief financial officer of American Home Shield, leading up to the spinoff of that business. Most recently, Turcotte served as vice president of investor relations and treasurer for ServiceMaster. Previously he served as the business unit chief financial officer for American Home Shield and the Franchise Services Group, as well as vice president of finance for the consolidated marketing organization. Turcotte came to ServiceMaster after six years at Office Depot, where he served as vice president, finance and investor relations. He also worked at Xylem Global Partners, where he was vice president and equity analyst. Prior to that, Turcotte spent more than 25 years with International Paper holding a variety of leadership positions in investor relations, sales and marketing, global product development, and other functions at locations across the United States.

American Renal Associates Holdings, Inc. [BEVERLY, Mass.] (NYSE: ARA) announced the appointment of Jason Boucher as Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Boucher will succeed Jon Wilcox, who will be leaving the Company for another opportunity. Mr. Boucher currently serves as the Company’s Vice President of Finance, Chief Accounting Officer and Treasurer. Mr. Boucher has more than 20 years of leadership experience in finance and accounting roles, including seven years at the Company, and more than eight years with other publicly-traded companies.

Big Switch Networks [SANTA CLARA, Calif.] announced that Seamus Hennessy has been appointed Chief Financial Officer. Prior to Big Switch, Hennessy spent eight years as CFO at Ruckus Wireless. Hennessy has also served in CFO roles at Cohesity, Aerohive Networks and Bubble Motion, as well as VP of Finance at NetScaler.

LLOG Exploration Company, L.L.C. [COVINGTON, La.] announced Phil Cossich, LLOG’s current Vice President of Planning and Budgeting, has been named Chief Financial Officer. He replaces Philip LeJeune, LLOG’s current Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer, who has been named Chief Executive Officer and President. Mr. Cossich joined LLOG in 2011.  Prior to joining LLOG, he was an associate at Macquarie focusing on acquisitions and divestitures for upstream E&P companies.  Mr. Cossich began his career at Tristone Capital.

FULLBEAUTY Brands Inc. [NEW YORK] announced the appointment of Bob Riesbeck as Chief Financial Officer. Riesbeck most recently served as CEO and President of HHGregg and was previously CFO. Prior to that leadership role, he served as an Operations Executive at Sun Capital Partners. Riesbeck previously held finance and operations roles at Nike and began his career with Grant Thornton LLP.

Sarah Hagan

ECi Software Solutions [FORT WORTH, Texas] announced the appointment of Sarah Hagan as Chief Financial Officer. She has replaced Glenn Etherington, who is retiring after serving as Chief Financial Officer for more than a decade. Previously, Hagan served as the Chief Financial Officer for Omnitracs. She has also held several senior positions and played a key leadership role at Sabre, and helped lead its successful IPO in 2014. Earlier in her career, she was an auditor with public accounting firm RCO.

Tennant Company [MINNEAPOLIS] (NYSE: TNC) announced the planned retirement of Tom Paulson, Tennant’s Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, with an expected effective date in the first quarter of 2019.

Emmaus Life Sciences, Inc. [TORRANCE, Calif.] has appointed Kurt Kruger as Chief Financial Officer. Kruger succeeds Willis C. Lee, who will continue as the company’s Chief Operating Officer and Vice Chairman of Emmaus. Until recently, Mr. Kruger headed up the life sciences investment banking group for WR Hambrecht + Co. Early in his career, he served as a marketing manager for CPI/Guidant, now Boston Scientific.  Kruger then went on to Wall Street where he continued to work in life sciences as a high-profile equities research analyst for two well-regarded investment banks, Hambrecht & Quist and Montgomery Securities (Banc of America Securities).

Re-Bath [PHOENIX] announced the hiring of Derek Fuller as Chief Financial Officer. Fuller joins the Re-Bath family after 16 years as the CFO and Vice President of Primrose Schools.

Fannie Mae [WASHINGTON] (OTCBB: FNMA) announced the promotion of Celeste Brown to Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer (CFO).  Celeste Brown joined Fannie Mae one year ago as Senior Vice President and Deputy Chief Financial Officer. She joined Fannie Mae following an 18-year career at Morgan Stanley.

VirtualArmour International Inc. [CENTENNIAL, Colo.] (CSE: VAI, OTCQB: VTLR) appointed Michael Panec as its new chief financial officer. Panec most recently served as chief operating officer at Innovest Systems. He earlier served in several roles of increasing responsibilities at Innovest, including as COO of its payment and fulfillment divisions, CFO of the Trust & Wealth division, and as director of technology. Before Innovest, Panec served as technology director at Optech Systems. Panec earlier served as vice president and manager of technology at Bankers Trust Company and Security Pacific National Bank.

Top Image Systems Ltd. [TEL AVIV, Israel and PLANO, Texas] (NASDAQ: TISA) announced the appointment of John London as Interim Chief Financial Officer. Prior to joining Top Image Systems, Mr. London was CFO of Magna5. Before that, he was EVP, Finance & Accounting, CFO, and Operations for Xerox Business Services. Prior to Xerox, Mr. London was CFO of Zenta. Earlier in his career, Mr. London was with PricewaterhouseCoopers for 11 years. Top Image Systems today also announces that Patti Barton will be leaving her position as Acting Chief Financial Officer of Top Image Systems in mid-August.

Kimberly Smith

Wetzel’s Pretzels [LOS ANGELES] announced that Kimberly Smith has joined the team as its Chief Financial Officer. Prior to joining Wetzel’s Pretzels, Smith served as PetSmart’s Vice President of Finance. During her nearly eleven years with the retailer, Smith served in various finance roles, including supporting financial planning & analysis. Earlier in her career, she worked in finance for the Kimberly-Clark Corporation. Smith also previously held a financial leadership position at PepsiCo, serving as Plant Controller and leading the Cost Management Program.

Ayla Networks [SANTA CLARA, Calif.] has hired Dave Adams as its new chief financial officer (CFO). Adams previously ran the finance function for ChargePoint; had senior leadership roles at Fastly; was corporate controller for cloud content management at file sharing company Box; and served as a controller for Ion Torrent Systems. Earlier in his career, Adams held finance and accounting roles with VeriSign, Affymetrix, VIAVI Solutions/JDSU, eBay and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

Womply [SAN FRANCISCO] announced the appointment of Tony Grimminck as the company’s first chief financial officer (CFO). Prior to joining Womply, Grimminck was CFO at HotelTonight, served in various executive roles at StubHub, and was a vice president at both Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan.

Pathmatics [SANTA MONICA, CALIF] announced that Pushkar Choudhuri joined as CFO. Pushkar most recently was CFO for ForwardLine Financial. Pushkar spent over 10 years with Barclays and Lehman Brothers, most recently as Managing Director for their financial services practice in Los Angeles

GuideSpark [REDWOOD CITY, CALIF.] announced the appointment of Valerie Burman as CFO and SVP Solutions & Strategy. Valerie’s career spans both public software companies such as SAP and Business Objects and private VC-backed SaaS companies such as Mindjet and Spigit.

Intent Solutions [ATLANTA] announced it has hired Nathan Dane as chief financial officer. In 2012, Dane joined EndoChoice.  He later led finance and sales operations for the largest of Carestream Dental’s four global sales regions.

GroupBy Inc. [AUSTIN, Texas] announced it has promoted Srikant Nayak to Chief Financial Officer. Prior to becoming GroupBy’s CFO, Srikant served as VP of Finance and Senior Director of Finance for GroupBy, having joined the company in 2015. Prior to joining GroupBy, Srikant served in various finance leadership roles, most recently serving as director of Homeland Energy Group. Srikant also served as VP of finance for Unit Park.

ProAssurance Corporation [BIRMINGHAM, Ala.] (NYSE: PRA) announced that Dana S. Hendricks will assume the role of Chief Financial Officer for the company effective September 1, 2018. Ms. Hendricks is currently the Senior Vice President of Business Operations for the Podiatry Insurance Company of America (PICA), a ProAssurance subsidiary. Ms. Hendricks joined PICA in 2001 and has served in a number of executive-level positions; prior to being promoted to her current position, she was the Vice President of Finance and Corporate Controller for PICA. Prior to her tenure at PICA, she held various finance and data analysis positions with American General Life & Accident Insurance Company and held finance and accounting positions in both public and non-public companies. Hendricks replaces Ned Rand, who will take on the sole responsibility of being ProAssurance’s Chief Operating Officer.

FactSet [NORWALK, Conn.]  announced that Helen Shan will join as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) in September 2018. Shan will join FactSet following her position at Marsh and McLennan Companies, where she was CFO for Mercer. Prior to Mercer, Shan has held the role of Vice President and Treasurer for both Marsh and McLennan Companies and Pitney Bowes Inc. and of Managing Director at J.P. Morgan. There will be a transition period when Shan joins with current CFO Maurizio Nicolelli, who will remain an employee with FactSet through December 2018.

Ravi Mallela

First Hawaiian, Inc. [HONOLULU] (NASDAQ: FHB), the parent company of First Hawaiian Bank, announced that it has appointed Ravi Mallela Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer of First Hawaiian, Inc. and First Hawaiian Bank. Mallela plans to join First Hawaiian, Inc. and First Hawaiian Bank in September.  Mallela joins from First Republic Bank, where he served as Senior Vice President, Head of Finance and Treasury.

DriveTime [TEMPE, Ariz.] announced the appointment of Mary Leigh Phillips as its new Chief Financial Officer. Ms. Phillips has more than 10 years of banking and capital markets experience with Wells Fargo and most recently served as a Director for Asset-Backed Finance with Wells Fargo Securities. Ms. Phillips specialized in executing lending facilities and capital markets transactions for auto finance companies, including DriveTime, since 2011. Kurt Wood, the Company’s Chief Financial Officer, will transition out of his role as CFO of the Company. Mr. Wood has served the Company as Chief Financial Officer for four years.

CLS Holdings USA, Inc. [LAS VEGAS] (OTCQB: CLSH) announced the appointment of Frank Tarantino as Chief Financial Officer. Prior to joining CLS, Mr. Tarantino was the COO/CFO of Wild Things. Prior to Wild Things, Mr. Tarantino worked as the Vice President of Finance at Cornerstone Brands. In the early stages of his career, Mr. Tarantino worked as an auditor for Coopers and Lybrand, now Pricewaterhouse Coopers.