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.

Chief Risk Officers, Chief Compliance Officers

Meta Financial Group has appointed Merid Eshete as chief risk officer. Eshete, who brings more than 15 years of financial institution experience, joins Meta from consulting firm Jefferson Wells, where he served as director of internal audit and technology risk management services in Minneapolis.

CIT Group has named Nancy Foster chief risk officer. Foster joined CIT early last year as chief credit officer. She will be responsible for global credit oversight and enterprise risk management and will chair the company’s newly created enterprise risk management committee.

Accounting Officers, Controllers

DreamWorks Animation has named Phil Cross chief accounting officer. Cross served as senior partner in the technology, communications and entertainment practice at PricewaterhouseCoopers before joining DreamWorks as a consultant in 2006.

CapitalSource, based in Chevy Chase, Md., has appointed Donald Cole interim chief accounting officer. Cole, who joined the commercial finance company in March 2001, is currently chief administrative officer. He replaces David Bjarnason, who left to pursue an undisclosed opportunity in Seattle.

$2 billion Carpenter Technology, based in Wyomissing, Penn., has announced the resignation of Richard Simons as vice president and controller. Simons has taken a senior position with another public company. In his place, the company has appointed Thomas Cramsey, who has been with Carpenter for 20 years and most recently served as assistant treasurer.

OrthoSynetics has named Michael Beland as corporate controller. Prior to joining the orthodontic practice services firm, Beland served as director of accounting research and policy at The Shaw Group.

General Counsels, Corporate Secretaries

Osborn

$1.8 billion Cephalon has announced that John Osborn will be resigning as executive vice president, general counsel, and secretary, as he has accepted a teaching and research position with Oxford University for the spring 2008 term. He has agreed to remain as an adviser to Cephalon on significant legal and policy matters. The company will immediately begin looking for Osborn’s successor.

Penton Media has appointed Elise Zealand as general counsel. Zealand joined Penton from the law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, where she served as a senior associate. Zealand, who will be located in the company’s New York office, replaces Robert Feinberg, who left the company to return to private practice.

AAR Corp. has announced that Howard Pulsifer plans to retire as general counsel in June after 20 years of service with the company. In his place, the company has hired Robert Regan, who previously served as a partner with the law firm Schiff Hardin, where he represented AAR and its businesses for more than 25 years.

On the Board

Cornelius

Bristol Myers Squibb has named its chief executive, James Cornelius, as chairman of its board. Cornelius, who will continue to serve as chief executive, was named interim CEO in September 2006 after the $18 billion pharmaceutical company fired its former CEO, Peter Dolan, and general counsel, Richard Willard, over a financial scandal. In other news, the board announced the resignation of James Robinson as non-executive chairman, although he will remain a director until his May retirement. In addition, the board has elected Lewis Campbell, chief executive officer of Textron, as lead independent director.

Whitworth

Sprint Nextel has appointed activist investor Ralph Whitworth to serve on its board of directors. He will also serve on the finance, human capital, and compensation committees. Whitworth—founder and principal of Relational Investors—is expected to stir the pot at the troubled wireless firm, having criticized Sprint’s plans to build a new $5 billion network and faulted the company for the decline of its core wireless business.

From the Vendors

The Institute of Management Accountants announced the launch of its new finance, governance, risk, and compliance research practice. The group is focused on broadening its advocacy initiatives and educating management accountants and organizations about producing right, reliable, and relevant financial information for an organization’s stakeholders using risk, performance, and quality assessment techniques across the supply chain.

Santona

Gloria Santona, executive vice president, general counsel, and secretary of McDonald’s Corp., has become the newest member of the Lex Mundi Client Advisory Council. Formed in 2003, the Council provides advice and guidance in a variety of areas to enhance member firms’ ability to serve their clients better and to meet the needs of in-house counsel. Santona joins nine other prominent general counsel from large companies around the world who currently serve on the Council.