CFO Moves – week ending March 2, 2012

CFO Moves this week include:

The Allstate Corporation (NYSE: ALL) announced that Don Civgin becomes president, Allstate Financial, and Steve Shebik was promoted to chief financial officer. Civgin has been chief financial officer since 2009. With Civgin’s change in roles, Shebik is being promoted to chief financial officer. He has held senior finance roles in property and casualty, Allstate Financial, investments and treasury areas over the last 16 years.

Jones Soda Co. (NASDAQ: JSDA) announced the appointment of James P. Stapleton as the company’s new Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Stapleton fills the vacancy from Michael R. O’Brien‘s departure on September 13, 2011. During the interim period, Jennifer Cue served as Interim Chief Financial Officer from September 13, 2011 through November 30, 2011 as an independent contractor. Since that time, Carrie Traner, Vice President of Finance, has served as principal financial officer. Since 2008, Mr. Stapleton has served as a consultant and advisor to small publicly traded companies and private companies and has participated in strategic business consulting, due diligence reviews for investors, and financial advising during this time. From 2005 to 2007 Mr. Stapleton was the CFO of Bionovo, Inc. Prior to that, from 2003 to 2005, he served as CFO of Auxilio, Inc.

Delta Air Lines’ (NYSE: DAL) announced that Paul A. Jacobson has been appointed to the position of senior vice president and chief financial officer. Jacobson was previously Delta’s senior vice president and treasurer. Jacobson will assume responsibilities from Hank Halter, Delta’s current chief financial officer, following his decision to retire from Delta. Paul joined Delta in 1997 as an analyst and has held positions of increasing responsibility since that time.

Harbinger Group Inc. (NYSE: HRG) announced the appointment of Thomas A. Williams as Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President of the Company. Mr. Williams served as President & Chief Executive Officer of RDA Holding and Reader’s Digest from April 2011 until September 2011. He was also a member of RDA Holding’s board of directors and its executive committee from May 2011 until September 2011. Previously, Mr. Williams had served as RDA Holding’s and Reader’s Digest’s Chief Financial Officer since February 2009. Before joining RDA Holding and Reader’s Digest, Mr. Williams served as Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer for Affinion Group Holdings, Inc. from January 2007 until February 2009. Previously, Mr. Williams spent more than 21 years with AT&T, Inc., where he held a progression of senior financial and officer positions including Chief Financial Officer of AT&T Networks.

Virginia Commerce Bank (NASDAQ: VCBI) announced the addition of Mark S. Merrill as Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Mr. Merrill is also the Chief Financial Officer for the holding company, Virginia Commerce Bancorp, Inc. Mr. Merrill most recently served as Executive Vice President and CFO for Tower Bancorp, Inc. (Harrisburg, PA) until its merger earlier this month with Susquehanna Bancshares, Inc. Prior to joining Tower, Mr. Merrill served as Vice President of Accounting Policy and Financial Controls for Waypoint Financial Corp. and Waypoint Bank and as a Senior Associate in the financial services practice of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. Mr. Merrill assumed his new position with Virginia Commerce Bank from Wilmer L. Tinley, Jr., who came out of retirement in March of last year to serve as the interim CFO after the untimely passing of the Bank’s longstanding CFO, Bill Beauchesne.

Potlatch Corporation (NASDAQ: PCH) announced that Eric J. Cremers has been named executive vice president and chief financial officer. Cremer’s joined Potlatch in 2007 as vice president finance and chief financial officer after working for Albertsons as senior vice president, corporate strategy and business development. Prior to that, Cremers was managing director, investment banking for Piper Jaffray.

Severn Bancorp Inc. (UTD: SVBI) parent company of Severn Savings Bank, FSB announced the appointment of Stephen W. Lilly to the position of Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Lilly joined the bank in November 2011 as Senior Vice President. Prior to joining Severn, he served as Chief Financial Officer of Bay-Vanguard FSB in Baltimore, Maryland.

Bayer MaterialScience LLC has appointed John Lemmex as chief financial officer. Lemmex joined Bayer nearly 25 years ago as a process chemist at a rubber operations plant in Sarnia, Ontario. He transitioned into a business analyst role in 1991, holding positions of increasing responsibility in the field of finance, controlling and accounting. Prior to taking on his new role, Lemmex spent several years at Bayer headquarters in Leverkusen, Germany, where he led the restructuring of the Bayer Polymers and MaterialScience controlling functions. Most recently, Lemmex served as vice president and controller, Bayer MaterialScience LLC.

Legacy Reserves LP (NASDAQ: LGCY) announced that Steven H. Pruett, President, Chief Financial Officer and Secretary of Legacy Reserves GP LLC, has informed the Board of Directors that he intends to leave Legacy effective to pursue other professional opportunities. Legacy also announced that James R. Lawrence, Legacy’s Vice President-Finance and Treasurer, has been appointed as Interim Chief Financial Officer of Legacy Reserves GP LLC. Jim Lawrence joined Legacy in June 2010 as Treasurer, and was promoted to Vice President-Finance and Treasurer in March 2011. Prior to joining Legacy, Mr. Lawrence worked for nine years in investment banking, including the last six years in the Energy Investment Banking Group at Raymond James & Associates, where he served as a Vice President from January 2007 to April 2010. Prior to his investment banking career and attending business school, Mr. Lawrence worked for five years in public accounting in Houston, focusing primarily on taxation.

Concho Resources Inc. (NYSE: CXO) announced that Steven H. Pruett is joining the Company as Senior Vice President of Corporate Development. Mr. Pruett most recently served as President and Chief Financial Officer of Legacy Reserves since its founding in 2005. In addition, he has previously served as President and Chief Executive Officer of First Permian from 2001 until its sale in 2002 and as President and Chief Executive Officer of First Reserve Oil & Gas Co from 1995 until 2000.

Joint Juice, Inc. named David Cooper as Chief Financial Officer. Cooper has led finance teams at leading food companies including PowerBar, Dole Food Company and Del Monte Fresh Produce. Cooper also held Chief Financial Officer positions at several technology companies, including Satmetrix, Art.com, QRS, and AvantGo, and was Senior Vice President of Finance at Agilent Technologies.

AnyDATA Corporation appointed Ulrich Gottschling as Chief Operating Officer. Mr. Gottschling will continue to serve as AnyDATA’s Chief Financial Officer. Prior to joining AnyDATA, Mr. Gottschling served as Chief Financial Officer of SRS Labs. Prior to that, Mr. Gottschling served as Chief Financial Officer and as Vice President of Operations of Valor Computerized Systems, Inc. (“VCS”). He was also President, Chief Financial Officer and a member of the board of directors of E4ENET.Com, Inc., an affiliated company of VCS. Prior to joining VCS, Mr. Gottschling was Chief Financial Officer of Sound Source Interactive, Inc. from 1995 to 1999 and also served as President and Chief Operating Officer of Sound Source from 1997 to 1999.

GBS Enterprises Incorporated (OBB: GBSX) announced the appointment of Markus Ernst as Chief Financial Officer. Markus Ernst is the former CFO of GROUP Business Software AG. Mr. Ernst joined GROUP’s Management Board in August 2000. Prior to joining GROUP, Markus worked as an industrial engineer focusing on finance for IBM in Mainz and San Jose, California and Seagram Germany. He then moved to corporate management for the Gesellschaft fur Zahlungssysteme mbH (GZS) a subsidiary of First Data Corp.

Braintree appointed Amit Jhawar to the position of chief financial officer. Jhawar joins Braintree from KKR. Prior to KKR, Jhawar held positions with the Chicago offices of Bain Capital/Sankaty Advisors and McKinsey and Company.

Acceller, Inc. hired Joe Suarez as their new Chief Financial Officer. In recent years, Suarez was a Senior Vice President at MasterCard International (Latin America and Caribbean region). He also worked at Mt. Sinai Medical Center, Royal Caribbean Cruises and PriceWaterHouseCoopers.

Wren Solutions announced the appointment of John H. “Jack” Nichols as chief financial officer.  Most recently, Nichols served as CFO at Oversight Systems. Prior to working with Oversight Systems, Jack served as CFO of Datawire Communication Networks. Previously, Jack was Vice President of Finance and CFO for NetSchools Corporation.

Behringer Harvard announced that Andrew J. Bruce has been appointed as Chief Financial Officer of Behringer Harvard Opportunity REIT I, Inc. and Behringer Harvard Opportunity REIT II, Inc. Mr. Bruce will continue to serve as Senior Vice President – Capital Markets for Behringer Harvard, a role in which he has served since March 2006. Before joining Behringer Harvard, from 1994 to 2006, Mr. Bruce worked for AMLI Residential Properties Trust in Dallas and Chicago.

Accuride Corporation (NYSE: ACW) announced that it has appointed Gregory A. Risch as Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Risch had served in the role on an interim basis since October 2011. Risch has served in a variety of capacities in Accuride’s Finance function since joining the company in 1994, including Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer, Director of Financial Planning and Reporting, and Assistant Controller.

LightSquared announced that Sanjiv Ahuja has resigned his position as chief executive officer. He will continue to serve as chairman of the board. Doug Smith, currently chief network officer, and Marc Montagner, currently chief financial officer, will be named as interim co-chief operating officers.

JGWPT Holdings, LLC has named Lior E. Yahalomi, Ph.D., as Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President. Prior to joining JGWPT, Dr. Yahalomi served as Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President of Vishay Intertechnology Inc. Previously, he served as Vishay’s Senior Vice President in charge of corporate mergers and acquisitions. In addition, he has held leadership roles and management positions of increasing responsibility in finance, executive management and business development with companies such as GE Capital, CMGI@Ventures and Monitor Company.

Pharmavite LLC announced David I. Solomon as its new chief financial officer and executive vice president. Most recently, Mr. Solomon served as the senior vice president and chief financial officer for ARAMARK Corporation in the Uniform and Apparel group. Prior to ARAMARK, Mr. Solomon held positions in the areas of Finance and Accounting at Stride Rite, The Timberland Co., and Deloitte & Touche.

Associated Materials, LLC announced the appointment of Paul Morrisroe as Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Secretary. He takes over for Chief Financial Officer Stephen E. Graham. Prior to joining Associated Materials, Mr. Morrisroe served in various management positions within Barnes Group Inc. over the course of 15 years, including as Vice President of Finance, Precision Components from April 2011 to February 2012, Vice President, Internal Audit from February 2009 to March 2011, Barnes Industrial Group Controller from 2005 to 2008, Barnes Aerospace Group Controller from 2000 to 2004 and Director of Accounting and Planning from 1997 to 2000.

Frontier Oilfield Services, Inc. (OTC: FOSI) announced the addition of Kenneth K. Conte as Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Frontier. Prior to joining Frontier, Mr. Conte served as Executive Vice President and CFO of NYTEX Energy Holdings, Inc. Dallas, TX, and previously as Managing Director and Head of Mergers & Acquisitions for National Securities Corporation, formerly vFinance Investments, Inc., New York, NY. Mr. Conte has also served as CEO and CFO of Windsor Technology, LLC, Rochester, NY and as Managing Partner of Argilus Investment Banking, Rochester, NY. He has held management positions with McDonald Investments, Inc., in Cleveland, Ohio, the Corporate Banking and Finance Group for Key Bank in Rochester, NY, Shawmut’s LBO fund, and at Chase Manhattan Bank.

Kona Grill, Inc. (NASDAQ: KONA) has promoted Christi Hing from vice president and controller to chief financial officer. Christi Hing served most recently as Kona Grill’s vice president and controller and previously as the company’s director of financial reporting. Before joining Kona Grill, Ms. Hing served as manager of financial reporting for American Express from February 2004 to December 2005.

LOYAL3 announced that Peter Coleman has been hired as Chief Financial Officer. Coleman most recently served as CEO of Merriman Capital and CFO of its holding company. Previously, Coleman was CFO, COO and a member of the Board of Directors at ThinkEquity (formerly ThinkPanmure). Prior to that, he was a senior research analyst covering the software industry at Schwab Soundview and Bank of America Montgomery Securities.

Chinook Sciences, LLC announced it has appointed Harry W. Zike as Group Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Zike brings more than 30 years of international finance and business experience to Chinook, including serving as the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of both public and private international companies in the energy and clean tech industries. His experience includes approximately: 19 years with Siemens, including serving as their Americas Region CFO for their Energy and Automotive Electronics Divisions; 13 years in the Audit and M&A practice of Price Waterhouse; two years as Executive Vice President & CFO of a NASDAQ traded alternative energy company; and two years as CFO and Board Member of a UK publicly traded clean tech energy company.

Saepio Technologies Inc. announced Eric Bur’s appointment as COO and CFO. Previous positions included CFO roles at Perceptive Software and NIC Inc.

Plantronics (NYSE: PLT) announced that Barbara Scherer, SVP & CFO, plans to retire once the company has found a suitable successor.

The New York Racing Association Inc. has hired Susanne Stover as its new chief financial officer and senior vice president. Stover previously held controller or CFO jobs with two restaurant chains, including the publicly traded California Pizza Kitchen Inc. Stover replaces Ellen McClain. Last fall, NYRA moved McClain into the role of executive vice president and chief operating officer.

American Humane Association announced the appointment of Clifford J. Rose as its new Chief Financial Officer. Prior to his hiring at American Humane Association, Rose worked as the Vice President of Finance and Administration and the Chief Financial Officer at the Epilepsy Foundation. Rose also brings more than 20 years of service at AARP, where he was appointed to the position of Controller, directing a staff of more than 80 people.

Blue Dolphin Energy Company (OTC: BDCO) announced that Thomas J. McReynolds, Jr., the Company’s Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, has resigned from his positions with the Company. Tommy Byrd, who has served as the Chief Financial Officer of LEH since 2006, will take over as the Company’s Chief Financial Officer and Principal Financial Officer on an interim basis.

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