COO Moves this week include:
| Pfizer Inc. | New Jersey Resources | Famous Dave’s of America, Inc. |
| Piston Group | ChikPea | Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. |
| Kala Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | Adams Street Partners | Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, Inc. |
| Intercontinental Exchange | SCI LLC | AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company |
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COO Moves is published by Samuel Dergel (Executive Search Consultant with Dergel Executive Search). Samuel can be reached by email at samuel@dergelsearch.com or by phone at +1 (415) 738-2070.
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Pfizer Inc. [NEW YORK] (NYSE: PFE) announced that Albert Bourla has been named Chief Operating Officer effective January 1, 2018. Albert Bourla has been the Group President of Pfizer’s Innovative Health Business since the beginning of 2016. Prior to his current position Bourla was the Group President for Pfizer’s Vaccines, Oncology and Consumer Healthcare businesses. Over the course of his career Bourla has held a number of senior global positions across a range of businesses and geographies Bourla was General Manager of the company’s Established Products Business Unit, prior to leading the Established Products business, Bourla was the Area President for Pfizer’s Animal Health business across Europe, Africa, and Asia Pacific where he managed the integration of Wyeth’s Animal Health Business (Fort Dodge) with Pfizer in these global markets.
New Jersey Resources (NJR) [WALL, N.J.] (NYSE: NJR) has named Stephen Westhoven executive vice president and chief operating officer (COO). Throughout his nearly three decades at NJR, Westhoven has held key leadership positions and assumed progressive responsibilities culminating in today’s appointment to COO. He began his career in 1990 as an engineer at NJNG. After serving as vice president at NJRES, he was named senior vice president and COO of NJR’s unregulated businesses, NJRES, NJRCEV and NJRHS.
Famous Dave’s of America, Inc. [MINNEAPOLIS] (NASDAQ: DAVE) has appointed its former Chief Development and Franchising Officer, Geovannie Concepcion, as the Company’s Chief Operating Officer.
Piston Group [REDFORD, Mich.] has promoted Amit Singhi to the position of chief operating and financial officer with responsibility for operating and financial matters at all of the Piston Group’s four companies. Before joining the Piston Group as chief financial officer in August 2017, Singhi had held a variety of management positions at Ford Motor Company and General Motors. Most recently he was CFO at FLIR Systems.
ChikPea [SAN FRANCISCO] welcomed Stephen Deason as our new Chief Financial and Operating Officer. Deason has worked with industry leaders including Oracle, Xerox, Verizon, Sage, and Accenture.
Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. [CLEVELAND] (NYSE: CLF) announced that P. Kelly Tompkins, executive vice president & chief operating officer, will retire effective Dec. 31, 2017.
Kala Pharmaceuticals, Inc. [WALTHAM, Mass] (NASDAQ: KALA) announced the appointment of Todd Bazemore as Chief Operating Officer of the Company. Todd is a biopharmaceutical executive with 23 years of experience spanning from ultra-rare orphan diseases to large primary care conditions. Prior to joining Kala Pharmaceuticals, Todd served as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Santhera Pharmaceuticals (USA), Inc. since September 2016. Prior to joining Santhera U.S., Todd served as Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer of Dyax Corp. Prior to joining Dyax, Todd was at Sunovion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. where he served in several roles of increasing responsibility including Vice President, Managed Markets, Vice President of Sales, and Vice President of Respiratory Business Unit. He began his career in sales at MURO Pharmaceuticals.
Adams Street Partners [CHICAGO] announced today that James Walker is joining the firm as a Partner and Chief Operating Officer. Walker has more than 30 years of senior executive leadership experience in the wealth management and asset management industries. Before joining Adams Street, he was COO at Credit Suisse Private Bank Americas. Prior to that, Walker spent seven years at Morgan Stanley Global Wealth Management (and predecessor firms), where he served on the management committee and held several roles of increasing responsibility including COO of Investment Strategy and Client Solutions, Director of the Consulting Group, and Director of Product Strategy. Earlier, Walker served as COO – Investment Advisory Services at Citi Global Wealth Management, and then as Director of Strategy, Finance and Risk. He began his career at Merrill Lynch and spent nearly two decades at the firm, rising to Chief Administrative Officer for the Global Private Client business. Walker has served on multiple boards over the years and is a regular lecturer at MIT’s Sloan School of Business
Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, Inc. (CSS Entertainment) [COS COB, Conn.] (NASDAQ: CSSE) announced that Elana Sofko has been appointed to the new position of chief operating officer. Sofko joined CSS Entertainment in 2016 as senior vice president of business development and distribution. Prior to joining the company, Sofko focused on a range of digital business growth initiatives for World Wrestling Entertainment, including international expansion and localization of WWE’s digital properties. Sofko also supported the launch and international expansion of the WWE Network, a subscription-based video over-the-top (OTT) service. Sofko worked on the launch of satellite radio as part of the start-up team at a predecessor of SiriusXM. She has also overseen strategic growth initiatives at ESPN and A&E Television Networks.
Intercontinental Exchange [ATLANTA & NEW YORK] (NYSE: ICE) announced the promotion of Mark Wassersug, previously ICE’s SVP of Operations, has been named Chief Operating Officer. Wassersug joined ICE in 2001 and was promoted to SVP in 2013. Mark will replace Charles A. Vice who has been named Vice Chairman who was previously President and Chief Operating Officer.
SCI LLC [QUEENSBURY, N.Y.] announced the appointment of Peter Fidopiastis as President and Chief Operating Officer. In addition to his new role, Peter will also continue as SCI’s General Counsel. Peter was a litigator in an employment defense firm in California dealing largely with management-side issues. He later extended his practice to NY before joining SCI where he has been General Counsel for 7 years.
AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company [NEW YORK] announced Jeffrey J. Hurd has been appointed Chief Operating Officer, effective April 2, 2018. Hurd will join both the AXA Equitable and AXA Equitable Holdings Executive Committees. Hurd joins AXA Equitable from American International Group, Inc. (AIG), where he most recently served as executive vice president and chief operating officer. Hurd joined AIG in 1998, and served in various leadership positions throughout his nearly 20 years at the company, including AIG deputy general counsel, senior vice president and AIG chief administrative officer, head of asset management restructuring and executive vice president and chief human resources officer. Hurd also served as a member of various enterprise governance committees and subsidiary boards, including the post-IPO board of AIA Group Ltd., a top insurance company in Southeast Asia. Hurd began his career as an associate at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius in 1993, where he specialized in mergers and acquisitions, private equity, strategic investments and joint ventures. In this role, he spent one year in Tokyo with leading Japanese law firm Mori Sogo.
