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People
Briefs .....
Oil giant Royal Dutch
Shell has extended the term of its chief executive, Jeroen van der Veer,
until 30 June 2009. Van der Veer became the company’s first chief executive upon
the 2005 unification of Shell and Royal Dutch. Jorma Ollila, Shell chairman,
said Van der Veer’s decision to continue at the company will provide clarity and
continuity over the next few years. The
Guardian’s Julia Finch (29 March) supported this extension of van der Veer’s
tenure, arguing he deserves the chance to continue the good work he has done
since taking over the company. Indeed, said Finch, the only big area in which
van der Veer’s record falters is that of safety, with the company this month
revealing that 37 employees and contractors died on company business in 2006 –
five times higher than at BP.
Steve Graham, co-founder and former commercial director
of iSOFT, has been “removed” as a director
of the software company following his suspension nearly nine months ago. Graham
was suspended at the beginning of August in the wake of an investigation into
possible accounting irregularities in the financial years ended 30 April 2004
and 2005. At the time, iSOFT indicated that £174m of revenues had been
recognised too early, and the Financial
Services Authority subsequently opened an official investigation.
Michael Oxley, who, as chairman of the House of Representatives’
Financial Services
Committee, was one half of the team that formulated the Sarbanes-Oxley Act,
is to become vice chairman of Nasdaq. In
this position, Oxley will work with public company chief executives and board
members on Nasdaq’s behalf and oversee outreach to Nasdaq listed companies on
public policy issues. Additionally, he will serve as an advisor to Nasdaq chief
executive Bob Greifeld and its board of directors. Oxley served as a congressman
for 25 years.
Mike Biggs has replaced Paul Thompson as chief executive
of Resolution, the life insurer.
Mike Biggs has been finance director since 2004. Previously he spent 12 years in
executive roles at Norwich Union and
Aviva. Jim Newman, the group financial
controller, was appointed finance director and joined the Resolution board. He
was previously finance director of Aviva’s UK life business. Lombard in the
Financial Times (8 March) said there had long
been a suspicion that Thompson did not get on with Resolution’s founder and
chairman, Clive Cowdery. However, Lombard said the pair had broadly agreed on
the company’s strategy up to now and so Thompson’s decision to go may have been
a way of heading off a feud before it began.
Tomoyo Nonaka has resigned as chairman of
Sanyo amid an investigation into
possible accounting irregularities at the Japanese electronics company. Her
departure is ascribed to “personal reasons”. Sanyo is currently cooperating with
a Securities and Exchange
Surveillance Commission investigation, and is reviewing the valuation of
investments in its subsidiaries between April 2000 and March 2004.
Two members of
Deutsche Börse’s executive board have resigned. Matthias Ganz, chief
operations officer since 2003 and Mathias Hlubek, chief financial officer since
2001, both stepped down. Ganz’s role has been taken over by other executive
board members while Reto Fancioni, chief executive of Deutsche Börse, has
assumed Hlubek’s responsibilities on an interim basis. Following this, Deutsche
Börse announced an overhaul its management structure, with each member of the
executive board taking responsibility for one of the Frankfurt exchange’s market
areas. Reto Francioni, Börse chief executive, said the move will increase the
group’s capacity for innovation and shorten decision-making time.
April, 2007 |
