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 Jaclyn Jaeger.

From the Regulators

Walter

The Securities and Exchange Commission has sworn in Elisse Barbara Walter as a Commissioner. Prior to her appointment, Walter was senior executive vice president of regulatory policy and programs at FINRA, where she coordinated policy issues across the organization and led its investor education efforts. She held the same position at NASD before its 2007 consolidation with NYSE Member Regulation and also formerly served as general counsel of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

Accounting Officers, Controllers

$9 billion OfficeMax has appointed Deborah O’Connor senior vice president of finance and chief accounting officer. O’Connor served most recently as senior vice president and controller of ServiceMaster from 1999 to 2007.

$1.1 billion Laureate Education has named Amit Rai chief accounting officer. Rai assumes the roles from Gary Wojtaszek, who is leaving Laureate to serve as chief financial officer at Cincinnati Bell. Rai joined Laureate in 2007 and previously served as vice president, corporate controller, and chief accounting officer for Delco Remy, a global automotive components manufacturer.

General Counsels, Corporate Secretaries

Kerrigan

$65 billion Zurich Financial Services has named Dennis Kerrigan as general counsel for its North America Commercial business division. Prior to his new position at Zurich, Kerrigan served at the law firm Dewey & LeBoeuf, based in Hartford, Conn., where he was a member of the global litigation department since 1998 and a partner since 2002.

Humana has appointed Christopher Todoroff general counsel, effective August 4. He assumes the roles from Arthur Hipwell, who is retiring after 15 years of service with the company. Todoroff most recently served as vice president and senior corporate counsel for Aetna.

$1.1 billion computer chip maker International Rectifier Corp., based in El Segundo, Calif., has appointed Tim Bixler as vice president, general counsel, and secretary. Bixler most recently served as senior counsel for General Electric's Homeland Protection business.

Chief Risk, Compliance Officers

WellCare Health Plans has named Jonathan Rich senior vice president and chief compliance officer, effective Aug. 11. Rich previously was general counsel and chief compliance officer for health insurer Aveta. Rich’s appointment comes after several of the company’s top executives resigned in January in the wake of a federal probe of the Tampa, Fla.-based managed-care company.

Green Dot, a retail-based financial services company, has appointed Lee Ross as chief compliance officer. Ross comes to Green Dot from the U.S. Department of Treasury, where he was the senior adviser of law enforcement in the Office for Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes.

On the Board

Ryder Systems, a transportation and supply chain management solutions provider, has elected James Beard to its board of directors. He will also serve on the finance and compensation committees. Beard most recently served as president of Caterpillar Financial Services Corp. and corporate vice president of the financial products division for Caterpillar before his retirement in 2005.

Greensboro, N.C.-based tobacco company Lorillard has elected Virgis Colbert, David Dangoor, and Nigel Travis to its board of directors. Colbert, a former senior adviser to Miller Brewing, will serve as chair of the compensation committee and sit on the nominating and corporate governance committee. Dangoor, president of public relations consulting firm Innoventive Partners, will serve on the audit committee. Travis, president and CEO of Papa John’s International, will serve on the compensation committee.

Caldwell

$1.4 billion Citrix Systems has elected Nanci Caldwell to its board of directors. Caldwell will serve on the nominating and corporate governance committee and the compensation committee. She is the former executive vice president and chief marketing officer for enterprise application software developer PeopleSoft.

From the Vendors

Financial Executives International has announced the formation of a new national coalition, the Corporate Roundtable on International Financial Reporting. The goal of CRIFR will be to provide a forum for companies of all sizes and funding models to discuss all business issues related to the promulgation, implementation, and convergence of International Financial Reporting Standards by U.S. companies.