CFO Moves – week ending August 23, 2019

Fiesta Restaurant Group, Inc. [DALLAS] (NASDAQ: FRGI), parent company of the Pollo Tropical® and Taco Cabana® fast-casual restaurant brands, named Dirk Montgomery as its new Chief Financial Officer, effective September 9, 2019. Montgomery was most recently Chief Financial Officer of Hooters International. He was previously Chief Financial Officer at Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. Montgomery has other related experience as a public company Chief Financial Officer at Health Insurance Innovations, Inc.; and at Ascena Retail Group, Inc. Earlier in his career, Montgomery served as Chief Financial Officer of Con Agra Foods Retail Group, as Chief Financial Officer of Express (previously a division of Limited Brands) and in several senior management positions with Sara Lee Corporation.

Cadent Therapeutics [CAMBRIDGE, MA] announced the appointment of John McBride as Chief Financial Officer. Prior to joining Cadent, Mr. McBride was Chief Financial Officer at Syntimmune. Prior to that, he served as both Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer during his tenure at Tokai Pharmaceuticals Inc. In addition, he founded and served as president of Alliance Life Science Advisors, Inc. Previously, he was Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Gloucester Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Earlier in his career, he served as Global Head of Oncology Licensing at Pharmacia Corporation; Executive Vice President, Business Operations and Chief Financial Officer at CytoTherapeutics, Inc.; and Vice President, Business Development and Treasurer at Phytera, Inc.

RailUSA, LLC [BOCA RATON, FL] has named Barbara Wilson President and Chief Financial Officer. Wilson was the President of Wells Fargo Rail. Earlier in her career, Wilson served as Chief Financial Officer for Helm Financial Corporation.

Citrix Systems, Inc. [FORT LAUDERDALE, FL] (NASDAQ: CTXS) announced that Arlen R. Shenkman has been appointed Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer (CFO), effective September 9, 2019. Shenkman joins Citrix from SAP. Shenkman will succeed Jessica Soisson, who has served as Citrix’s Interim CFO since April 2019. Soisson will remain at Citrix and will report to Shenkman in her continuing role as Corporate Controller and Chief Accounting Officer. Shenkman most recently served as Executive Vice President and Global Head of Business Development and Ecosystems at SAP. Prior to that role, Shenkman served as CFO of SAP North America. Shenkman previously served as Global Head of Corporate Development for SAP and was a principal architect of SAP’s rapid transformation into a cloud company.

NuTech National [MAITLAND, FL] announced Wayne Kalish is joining NuTech as CFO. He served as Senior Vice President, Accounting and Finance Group Chief Financial Officer at Tavistock Group (US and UK, 3 years) and Vice President, Accounting and Corporate Planning at Darden Restaurants (12 years).

Qualcomm Incorporated [SAN DIEGO] (NASDAQ: QCOM) announced that Dave Wise has decided to retire after a 23-year tenure at the Company. The company appointed Akash Palkhiwala, SVP of Finance, as interim CFO. Palkhiwala joined Qualcomm in 2001 and has previously held a variety of roles in Finance, including Treasurer and lead for Corporate Finance overseeing Qualcomm’s overall financial planning and analysis. He has been part of the senior finance leadership team for more than 10 years.

Bsquare Corporation [BELLEVUE, Washington] (NASDAQ: BSQR) announced the appointment of Chris Wheaton as Chief Financial Officer, effective September 9, 2019. Previously he co-founded and served as CFO and COO of EnerG2. EnerG2 was acquired in 2015 by BASF. Chris has also held the CFO position at Pacific Science Center and served as interim CFO in companies around the Puget Sound. Earlier in his career, he held executive positions at Loudcloud, Inc.

Cielo Global Holdings [LUBBOCK, TX] announced that Chris Pruitt has joined as Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Pruitt has over 20 years of experience in accounting and finance in the private sector as well as in publicly-held companies and accounting firms. He most recently served as CFO for a civil construction company out of New Mexico.

Thomas Crofcheck

Melmark, Inc. [BERWYN, Pa.] announced the promotion of Tom Crofcheck to Vice President and Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Crofcheck will assume the role in late September from Joseph Zakrzewski who announced his retirement earlier this year. Crofcheck most recently served as Director of Finance for Melmark Pennsylvania and has been an active advocate and mentor through his participation in statewide rate setting advocacy campaigns led by Pennsylvania Advocacy Resources (PAR). 

Lumber Liquidators [TOANO, VA] (NYSE: LL) announced the appointment of Nancy A. Walsh as the Company’s Chief Financial Officer effective September 9, 2019. Ms. Walsh will replace Interim Chief Financial Officer Timothy Mulvaney who will return to his role as Chief Accounting Officer for the Company. Walsh most recently served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Pier 1 Imports, Inc. Prior to that, she served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of The Bon-Ton Stores, Inc. and in various finance and leadership positions with Tapestry, Inc., formerly known as Coach, Inc.

Erika Wennerstrom

JazzHR [PITTSBURGH] announced the addition of Erika Wennerstrom as Chief Financial Officer. Wennerstrom joins the company from Ellevation Education where she served as Vice President of Finance and Business Operations. Prior to Ellevation Education, Wennerstrom was Director of Finance at Constant Contact.

Todd A. Booth

3D Systems [ROCK HILL, S.C.] (NYSE: DDD) announced that Todd A. Booth will join the company as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, effective September 3. Most recently, he was CFO for Teledyne Marine. Booth replaces John McMullen, who announced his planned retirement earlier this year.

4C Insights [NEW YORK] announced that Lisa Mogensen has been appointed as the company’s Chief Financial Officer. Brent Dobsch, who had been handling those duties as 4C CFO, has been named CFO and COO at Kinetiq after 4C acquired a stake and jointly created the new company, combining iQ Media and Teletrax. Mogensen began her career in investment banking ultimately switching to media with such notable companies as News Corp. and NBC (while under GE ownership). Mogensen was named CFO of TheStreet and then CFO of Forbes Digital. Subsequently, she moved on to be an innovative CFO across multiple industries including technology, SaaS, big data, e-commerce, luxury, media, and professional services.

SEngine Precision Medicine [SEATTLE, Washington] announced it is expanding its senior executive team with the appointment of Tom Neary as Chief Financial Officer.  Most recently he was CFO at Space Venture Partners, and prior to that, CFO at Spaceflight Industries.

Pacific Financial Corporation [ABERDEEN, Washington] (OTCQX: PFLC), the holding company for Bank of the Pacific, announced the hiring of Carla Tucker as its new Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President, effective September 1, 2019, succeeding Douglas N. Biddle who recently announced his retirement. Tucker spent the last 15 years with Skagit Bank as their Chief Financial Officer before Skagit Bank sold late last year.

First Bank & Trust Company [ABINGDON, Va.] and its parent holding company, First Bancorp, Inc., announced that Eric Moore will become Chief Financial Officer. Moore replaces Mark Nelson who has been appointed Chief Executive Officer. Nelson served as Chief Financial Officer for 21 years, from 1998-2019.  Moore has been with First Bank & Trust Company for 15 years where he served as Vice President of Compliance and Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) Officer from 2004-2019.  He also worked for First American National Bank and The United Company.

General Mills [MINNEAPOLIS] (NYSE: GIS) announced that Don Mulligan, Chief Financial Officer, will transition to an advisory capacity effective February 1, 2020, and will retire effective June 1, 2020. Kofi Bruce, currently Controller, will be promoted to Vice President, Financial Operations, effective September 1, 2019, and will succeed Mulligan as Chief Financial Officer on February 1, 2020. Bruce joined General Mills in 2009, following 10 years of experience in various finance leadership roles at Ford Motor Company and Ecolab. During his tenure at General Mills, he has served as Treasurer; Vice President, Finance for the U.S. Yogurt operating unit; Vice President, Finance for the Convenience Stores & Foodservice segment and Global Revenue Development; and his most recent role as Controller.

2U, Inc. [LANHAM, MD] (NASDAQ: TWOU) announced that Catherine A. Graham has notified the company that she plans to retire as chief financial officer, effective April 1, 2020 or upon the company’s earlier appointment of her successor.

The Ensign Group, Inc. [SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO, CA] (NASDAQ: ENSG), the parent company of the Ensign group announced the appointment of Jennifer L. Freeman as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of The Pennant Group, Inc., the holding company of all of Ensign’s home health and hospice agencies and substantially all of Ensign’s senior living businesses following completion of the previously-announced spin-off. Freeman has been serving as CFO of Cornerstone Healthcare, Ensign’s home health and hospice portfolio company, since she joined the organization earlier this year. Prior to joining Cornerstone, Freeman was Chief Financial Officer of Northpoint Recovery Holdings, LLC. Freeman has held various other leadership roles within the healthcare industry, including the Chief Financial Officer of Molina Healthcare of Washington, the Vice President of Finance of Coordinated Care Corporation, Chief Financial Officer for Qualis Health, and the Vice President of Finance of MCG Health, LLC.