CFO Moves UK – week ending 2-9-16-23-30 August 2013

G4S announced that Himanshu Raja, current CFO of Misys plc, will be joining the board of G4S plc as an executive director in the role of Chief Financial Officer on 7 October 2013. He will also serve as a member of the Risk Committee. Prior to joining Misys, he held a number of senior roles at BT Group plc before becoming CFO at Logica plc in 2011.

CPPGroup Plc announced the appointment of Craig Parsons as Chief Financial Officer. Craig has held a senior role in CPP’s Group finance function since 2002, his most recent position being Director Tax & Treasury, and in this capacity he sat on the Group Executive Committee and Group Operating Committee. He qualified as a Chartered Accountant with PwC in 1995.

Highland Spring Group has appointed Mark Steven as group finance director. Mark was previously chief financial officer at VION Food Group Limited and operations finance director of Grampian Country Food Group.

Skyepharma PLC (LSE: SKP) announced that Andrew Derodra has been appointed Chief Financial Officer and an Executive Director. Mr Derodra is expected to join in the fourth quarter of 2013. Mr Derodra joins Skyepharma from Tate & Lyle, where he has been Group Vice President Finance & Control since 2011. He has spent 23 years working in senior finance roles within five FTSE100 groups including SABMiller, Diageo, British Airways and Reed Elsevier. The Group’s previous Chief Financial Officer, Peter Grant, was appointed Chief Executive Officer in January 2012 and retained responsibility for the Group’s financial affairs.

Firestone Diamonds announced the appointment of Stuart Brown as an Executive Director of the Company with effect from 2 September 2013. Tim Wilkes, the Company’s current Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”), will stand down from his role on 30 November 2013 and Stuart Brown will assume the role of CEO from 1 December 2013. Tim Wilkes will remain with the Company as an Executive Director. Stuart Michael Brown spent 20 years at the De Beers Group, the world’s leading diamond company. His early career included positions in the finance divisions at Teemane Diamond Manufacturing in Botswana and at the Premier Mine in South Africa. In 1999, Stuart was appointed as Finance Manager for De Beers Global Exploration and in 2001 he was appointed General Manager for De Beers Geological Services in South Africa. This move led to Stuart’s Head of Finance role for all De Beers companies in South Africa and then to the post of CFO of De Beers Consolidated Mines. In 2006, Stuart was appointed De Beers Group CFO. In August 2010, subsequent to the De Beers Group CEO leaving, Stuart was appointed Acting Joint CEO to run the entire De Beers Group in tandem with his CFO duties.

Lot78 announced that Ali Gulamhussein has joined the company as CFO of Lot78.

Enables IT Group announced that Peter Weller, the Company’s Chief Financial Officer, will be leaving the company. The Company’s financial controller will assume day-to-day responsibility for the finance function and a further announcement will be made as to the CFO role in due course.

African Minerals Limited announced the appointment of Matthew Hird, replacing Miguel Perry as CFO, effective from October 1st. Matthew was previously CFO of Kazakhmys PLC. Matthew joined Kazakhmys in 2005. Prior to joining Kazakhmys, Matthew worked for Vedanta Resources plc between 2003 and 2005 as Company Secretary and Group Reporting Manager, and previously he worked for 9 years within Deloitte’s global mining team.

Idox plc (AIM: IDOX) announced that its Chief Financial Officer (“CFO”), William Edmondson, has resigned from the Group to take up an appointment outside the quoted sector. Mr Edmondson will remain with the Group until October 2013, the end of the current financial year, to assist with the orderly transition of the role. Until a new, permanent CFO is engaged, Richard Kellett-Clarke, the Group’s CEO, will resume responsibility for the finance function in the short-term assisted by Group Financial Controller, Jane Mackie.

Cambridge Cognition Holdings plc (AIM: COG) announced the appointment of Nick Walters as Chief Financial Officer, succeeding David Blair who has resigned from the Company. Nick Walters, a chartered accountant, joins the Company as Chief Financial Officer with over thirty years’ experience in finance roles and board-level appointments.

Flybe announced that Andrew Knuckey, the CFO of Flybe, has tendered his resignation. Knuckey, who has been CFO since 2007, would leave the company after his successor is appointed and a suitable handover period is completed.

Conviviality Retail Plc announced that Julie Wirth will be appointed as the Company’s new Chief Financial Officer, effective from 4th November 2013. Julie replaces Peter Hodgson, who has been with the Company for over 20 years and will be retiring. Julie joins Conviviality from Musgrave Retail Partners GB where she has been Finance Director since 2008. Prior to this Julie held a number of roles within Home Retail Group plc over a 20 year period, finally as the Director of Group Finance.

Ulster Bank, the Northern Irish subsidiary of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), confirmed the appointment of Paul Stanley as CFO. Stanley, who is the current acting CFO of AIB, will be replacing Charles McManus, who stepped down as Ulster Bank’s CFO last year. Stanley has been with AIB since 1980 and became acting CFO in May 2011. Before being appointed acting CFO, Stanley was the bank’s group financial controller.

NWF Group plc announced the appointment of Yvonne Monaghan as Non Executive Director of the Group. Monaghan is currently Group Finance Director of Johnson Service Group Plc.

Moneysupermarket.com Group PLC announced that Paul Doughty, Chief Financial Officer, has informed the Board of his intention to step down as a Director and to leave the Company no later than 1 June 2014. Paul joined MoneySupermarket in 2004 as Chief Financial Officer.

Travelzest PLC announced that, upon the resignation of the CEO, Jonathan Carroll, Adrian Cobbold, the Group Finance Director, will assume responsibility for the day to day operations of the business, supported by Christopher Howell, in his capacity as non-executive chairman.

ECO Plastics appointed Darren Marr as chief financial officer.

CFO Moves UK – week ending 5-12-19-26 July 2013

Corac Group plc announced that the roles of Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Chief Operating Officer (COO), previously both held by Mark Crawford, will be separated. Going forward, Mark will focus on the role of COO. Jon Carter was appointed as CFO. Jon joins Corac from IPL Group Limited, where he was CFO.

Volex plc announced the appointment of Nick Parker as Chief Financial Officer, effective from 1 September 2013. Nick joins Volex from WANdisco plc where he was Chief Financial Officer. From 2008-2011, Nick was the Chief Executive Officer of Sheffield Wednesday Football Club and a member of the board of Sheffield Wednesday plc from 2008 to 2011. Nick also served for eight years as Group Finance Director of Dyson Group plc. Parker replaces Daniel Abrams.

esure Group plc announced that it has appointed Shirley Garrood, previously Chief Financial Officer of Henderson Group plc, as an independent Non-Executive Director.

Porta announced the appointment of Eugene (Gene) Golembiewski as Finance Director. Gene spent 15 years as CFO and COO of Gavin Anderson, (the last three years as Kreab Gavin Anderson) and prior to that he was the International Finance Director at Ketchum for 10 years. Keith Springall, previously the Finance Director of Porta, has resigned to seek new challenges.

Berwin Leighton Paisner announced the appointment of David Rowe as the firm’s new Finance Director. David joins from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) where he spent more than 20 years. David’s tenure at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) included various senior roles including Director of Finance & Planning, Tax and Legal, EMEA; and Finance Director, UK and Global Tax. More recently, he held the position of Finance Director of PwC’s Global Network. Prior to PwC David spent five years as Group Chief Accountant at Herring Baker Harris Plc and four years as an Accounting Manager at Safeway Foodstores Ltd.

BG Group appointed AstraZeneca’s Simon Lowth as CFO. He will replace the company’s interim CFO Den Jones, who stepped up from his role as financial controller in February, after then CFO Fabio Barbosa fell ill and subsequently retired. Prior to joining AstraZeneca as CFO, he worked for Scottish Power from 2003 to 2007. Before that Lowth worked from 1987 to 2003 for management consultancy McKinsey.

AstraZeneca announced that Simon Lowth, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Executive Director, will leave the company at the end of October. Simon has been appointed CFO for the BG Group PLC and will take up his new post in November.

Sound Oil named Stuart Joyner as its CFO. Joyner joins company from Investec where he had been head of oil and gas sector since 2010. Prior to that, he held senior investment banking roles with a remit for the oil and gas sector at Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley, Dresdner Kleinwort and NatWest Securities.

Jimmy Weir

Hearst Magazines UK, Hearst Corporation’s principal business in the UK, announced the appointment of Jimmy Weir as its new CFO. He joins Hearst Magazines UK from Egmont Kids Media where he worked as CFO, Western Europe and English Language Area, for five years. Prior to this, Jimmy was Divisional Finance Director for EMAP Consumer Media for four years before his appointment as Director of Finance Operations for EMAP PLC. Following the purchase of the former EMAP B2B business by Apax he was appointed Group Finance Director of Emap’s B2B business. Prior to joining EMAP, Jimmy worked in various leading finance roles for Euromoney Institutional Investor, Carrefour Poland and Jardine Matheson, based in Japan. He replaces outgoing Finance Director, Andy Humphries, who is leaving Hearst to pursue other opportunities.

Barclays PLC and Barclays Bank PLC announced that Tushar Morzaria will be appointed as Group Finance Director to succeed Chris Lucas in this role. Chris announced in February 2013 his intention to retire. Mr Morzaria is currently Chief Financial Officer, Corporate and Investment Banking at JP Morgan Chase, where he has spent the majority of his career.

Optos plc (LSE: OPTS) announced that Louisa Burdett has decided to step down from her role as Chief Financial Officer. Robert Kennedy, currently Group Director of Finance and Company Secretary, will become interim CFO with immediate effect. Robert Kennedy joined Optos in August 2011 from the University of Dundee where he had been the Director of Finance since 2007. Prior to this, he held a number of senior finance roles including six years with Gamma Holding NV, a Dutch listed company, the last three as Group Finance Director of the Filtration Division.

Climate-KIC announced that Prescott Price has joined as Chief Finance Officer. Based in the UK, Price will work with Climate-KIC’s executive team to further advance the organisation’s financial operations. Price has been working as Head of Finance at UK charity Save the Children’s Fundraising Division since 2011, and has been active for companies such as Colt Technology, V2 Music Group and EMI Music before that.

Digital Barriers plc (AIM: DGB) announced that Group Finance Director Nik Holgate is to leave the Group and steps down from his position as Group Finance Director. Until a new, permanent Group Finance Director is engaged, the Board has appointed Paul Bergin as interim Head of Finance. Paul has significant experience in public company finance roles most recently with McBride Plc.

Grafton Group plc announced the appointment of David Arnold as Group Chief Financial Officer. David will be joining the Board and succeeding Colm ó Nualláin who is retiring, with effect from 9 September 2013. David was Group Finance Director of Enterprise plc, the private equity backed support services company, from 2010 until its sale in April 2013. He was Group Finance Director of housebuilder Redrow plc from 2003 until 2010. Prior to this, David was Treasurer of Six Continents plc and has held a number of senior financial positions at Tarmac plc, .

Ruspetro plc announced that Tom Reed, Chief Financial Officer and a Director of Ruspetro, has been appointed acting Chief Executive Officer. Tom has been Ruspetro’s Chief Financial Officer since 2008.

Altitude Group plc (AIM: ALT) announced that Richard Sowerby has been appointed Chief Financial Officer. He replaces David Dannhauser who has resigned. Since 2011, Richard has been Finance Director of Stridage Holdings Limited, and a director of Meritas Development Limited. He has also been a director of Carr-Hill Limited since 2008. Previous positions held by Richard include Group Finance Director of Eclipse Scientific Group, from 2005 to 2008 and Finance Director and Managing Director from 1998 to 2003 of Senior Architectural.

Howden Joinery Group Plc is pleased to announce the appointment of Richard Pennycook as an independent Non-Executive Director. Richard will take over as Chairman of the Audit Committee from Angus Cockburn who, as previously announced, will stand down later in the year. Following his appointment, Richard will also be a member of the Remuneration and Nomination Committees. Richard is the current Interim Group Finance Director of The Co-operative Group. Prior to that he was Group Finance Director at WM Morrison Supermarkets Plc, where he had responsibility for the group’s finance, IT, strategy and multi-channel development. Richard was also previously Group Finance Director at RAC Ltd, JD Wetherspoon Plc, HP Bulmer Holdings Plc and Laura Ashley Holdings Plc. He was also Chief Executive Officer at Welcome Break Holdings Ltd. Richard is currently Senior Independent Director and Chairman of the Audit Committee of Persimmon Plc and a Non-Executive Chairman of The Hut Group Limited. He was also a Non-Executive Director of Thomas Cook Group Plc.

Zurich UK Life announced that CFO Dan Pender has quit the insurance firm after 16 years of service. Pender was promoted from his position as chief actuary of the firm to the CFO’s office in February 2011. The insurer also confirmed that its current head of financial reporting – Neil Evans – had taken over as interim CFO until a full-time replacement for Pender is found.

Herbert Smith Freehills announced that it has appointed Nick Willmott to the role of Chief Financial Officer. He will start at the firm in September and be based in its London office. Nick joins from Chicago-based international law firm Kirkland & Ellis where he has been CFO since 2004. Prior to Kirkland & Ellis he held senior finance positions at Pepsi (1993-1999), and real estate services firm Jones Lang LaSalle (1999-2004). The firm also confirmed that it has appointed Paul Roberts is Finance Director – UK, EMEA and Asia. Paul will start in July and will also be based in London. He was previously Finance Director at BDO.Yvonne Laird

Scientia announced that Yvonne Laird has been appointed as group finance director. She qualified as an accountant with KPMG, subsequently joining Tesco subsidiary One Stop Stores. Laird then joined Serco, where latterly she held the position of finance and commercial director of Serco Education and Learning.

Versarien plc (AIM: VRS) announced that Christopher Michael Leigh has been appointed Finance Director and Company Secretary. Stephen Humphries, the Group’s current interim Finance Director, who joined the Board on a temporary basis to assist with Versarien’s recent AIM listing, will be stepping down from the Board and as a director of the Group. Mr Leigh is currently Chief Financial Officer at a leading medical recruitment agency ProMedical Personnel Limited, a position he has held since October 2011. Prior to this, Christopher was Group Finance Director of AIM-listed Elektron Technology Plc for eighteen years between 1992 and 2010.

Staffline Group PLC announced that Tim Jackson, currently Group Finance Director, has informed the Board that he wishes to leave the company to pursue other personal and career opportunities. Tim has served as Finance Director of Staffline for over four years. In addition, Staffline announced the appointment of Philip Ledgard as Group Finance Director and executive member of the board from 9 October 2013. Philip is currently Finance Director for G4S Integrated Services. Prior to his role as Finance Director for G4S IS Philip was Regional Financial Controller for G4S UK and Ireland.

Keycom plc announced that Paula Benoit has recently been promoted to Finance Director and Secretary of Keycom plc. Prior to joining Keycom in October 2012, she had worked for Müller Dairy Ltd, the German dairy company, as Financial and Commercial Controller. She then worked as Finance Director at Redstone Management Solutions, a division of Redstone plc, an AIM listed company, before moving on to RMS Managed IT Security Ltd as Finance Director.

Obtala Resources Limited (AIM: OBT) announced the appointment of Joseph Philippe Cohen to the Board of Obtala as Finance Director. Philippe worked for 14 years in Commodities and Structured Finance at BNP Paribas as well as Vitol. Philippe now works as a consultant specialising in the metals & mining as well as oil & gas sector. Philippe will be replacing Mike Bretherton who is stepping down from the board in order to pursue other commitments.

CFO Moves UK – week ending 28 June 2013

blur Group plc (LSE AIM: BLUR) announced the appointment to the board of James Davis as Group CFO, to be effective as of 29 July 2013. Most recently James was CFO of Four Cross Media, a network of businesses in the USA, India and Singapore. James began his career with accountancy firm Saffery Champness before joining Rollover. He was also the CFO of Sporting Index. He is a Non-Executive Director of Centurion Safety Products.

Scottish Salmon Company’s chief financial officer is leaving the business at the end of August. Group financial controller Clare White will step up on an interim basis while a permanent replacement is sought. Robert Wilson was previously finance director for Marine Harvest in Scotland. He has been with the company since 2009.

Intrinsic Technology hired Rachael Nevins as its new chief financial officer. Nevins with experience in senior finance and commercial roles at a diverse range of employers including Ultralase, Skills for Justice, ITW Rocol and Cytec. She replaces former CFO Carl Plucknett. Lynn Mawdsley

Sodexo UK and Ireland appointed Lynn Mawdsley as Chief Financial Officer. Lynn’s previous roles include Finance Director at MCI Worldcom, T Mobile UK and Cable & Wireless, before going on to hold a variety of executive interim board roles over the last few years.

Redstone plc announced that following the successful completion of the demerger Peter Hallett, Chief Financial Officer of the Company, has given notice of his resignation. Peter has been with the business for over four years and has successfully completed the restructuring of Redstone plc and the demerger and flotation of Redcentric plc. Peter has a twelve-month notice period and will remain as Chief Financial Officer of the Company until a successor has been recruited. Peter joined the Redstone Board in 2009 having worked closely with the business as a consultant on behalf of our bank since 2008 as interim and turnaround specialist.

Torotrak plc (LSE: TRK) announced that Rex Vevers joins the company as Finance Director. Rex Vevers joins from Ceres Power Holdings plc, where he was Group Finance Director from 2006 until February 2013. Rex held a number of senior finance positions in companies including Pechiney, OSI, and Avon Cosmetics.

Communisis plc (LSE: CMS) announced the appointment of Peter Harris, as non-executive Director and Chairman of the Audit Committee, effective 1 July 2013. Peter is currently Interim Finance Director of Bell Pottinger LLP, which he joined in August 2012. For the previous 10 years, Peter was Finance Director of Engine. Prior to that, he was Group Finance Director of Capital Radio Plc.