Compliance Week regularly tracks various personnel moves, board appointments, product releases, customer wins, and industry gossip in the corporate governance realm. Submit announcements to Compliance Week’s DeAnn Christinat.

From The Regulators

The Internal Revenue Service has named Terri McField as special counsel to the chief counsel (legislation). McField, previously general counsel for Black Entertainment Television’s subsidiary, BET Interactive, replaces Clarissa Potter, who took on the role of deputy chief counsel in September 2006.

Chief Accounting Officers, Controllers

Hooper

Dell, based in Bed Rock, Texas, announced that Thomas Sweet was named chief accounting officer. Sweet is a 10-year Dell veteran and most recently served as vice president of finance. He replaces Joan Hooper, who was appointed vice president of finance for the Americas. Sweet was responsible for implementing the company’s Sarbanes-Oxley compliance activities.

David Hinton was recently promoted to controller at Memphis, Tenn.-based holding company Pinnacle Airlines Corp. Hinton, who has served in numerous positions in the company’s accounting department, will oversee all accounting and financial reporting for Pinnacle and its subsidiaries. In addition, Ron Kay, formerly Pinnacle’s treasury director, has been named vice president of finance and treasurer, overseeing corporate development, financial analysis, cash management, corporate finance, and other treasury functions.

Philadelphia-based Tasty Baking Co. Corporate Controller Paul Ridder has taken on the additional role of chief accounting officer for the pastry company. Ridder takes over for David Marberger, who continues on as executive vice president and principal financial officer. Ridder was previously vice president corporate transactions at Radnor Holdings.

Hayward

Christopher Hayward, global treasurer for Merrill Lynch & Co., is to succeed Laurence Tosi as finance director and principal accounting officer. Hayward continues on as head of the company’s holding company supervision initiatives. His predecessor has been named chief operating officer of the global markets and investment-banking segment.

Visteon Corp., an automotive supplier located in Van Buren Township, Mich., has tapped Michael Widgren as its corporate controller and chief accounting officer. Widgren previously served as assistant controller. Prior to joining Visteon, he was chief accounting officer for Federal-Mogul Corp.

General Counsels

Camarillo, Calif.-based Electronic Clearing House has appointed Shawn Alikian as general counsel. Alikian most recently served as division counsel and vice president of corporate development for Homestore before joining the provider of electronic payment and transaction processing services.

Southwest Water Co., located in Los Angeles, recently appointed William Dix as its general counsel, a new role at the wastewater facility. Dix was formerly a sole practitioner, providing counsel on licensing, contracts, governance, and real estate lease negotiations to small-cap and midcap companies.

Patricia Arciero-Craig has become general counsel at First Albany, heading up the company’s legal, compliance, and internal audit departments. The former deputy general counsel fills the position that has been vacant since Stephen Wink‘s departure two years ago.

Brumback

In Raleigh, N.C., Ragsdale Liggett appointed Melissa Dewey Brumback as general counsel to the North Carolina Jaycees. Brumback, previously a partner in Ragsdale’s litigation department, will advise the Jaycees’ management and staff on all legal issues.

New York-based WisdomTree Investments has selected outside counsel Peter Ziemba to serve as general counsel assisting with securities regulations and with the company’s legal, compliance, and corporate governance issues. Ziemba has served at the investment firm since 1993 and was a member of the board’s audit committee from 1996 to 2004.

On The Board

Fortress International Group, based in Columbia, Md., has selected William Jews to serve as a member of the audit committee on its board of directors. Jews is a senior business and health care executive with prior roles as president and chief executive officer of three major health care organizations and board member for seven large public companies.

Ross

Oakland, Calif.-based World Heart Corp., a support system developer, recently made some changes to its board. Chairman Ian Ross is retiring and will be replaced by Michael Sumner Estes, a member since April 2007. Estes will also serve on the compensation committee and the corporate governance and nominating committee. Also, Gary Goertz has been nominated for the position of director, and if elected, should replace Ross as chairman of the audit committee. Goertz previously served as executive vice president, finance and chief financial officer of MDS Inc.

From The Vendors

RenewData, an electronic evidence provider based in Austin, Texas, recently launched its Data Migration Services product. Data Migration Services helps companies locate e-mail from old systems and consolidate it into their new systems, and is targeted for companies with tight e-discovery deadlines.

FRS, a British maker of enterprise risk management software, has secured a contract with UniCredit Group‘s banking division, HVB Luxembourg. HVB will use FRS’ FinancialAnalytics Software as it works on Common Reporting (COREP) and Financial Reporting (FINREP) Standards, which are guidelines from the Committee of European Banking Supervisors. The software will help HVB improve the exchange of financial information and provide the company with a solution for consolidating financial reporting onto one database, while making sure HVB is compliant by 2007 year-end. In addition, the software supplies a databank that can be used by the company for other information management functions.