Daily Archives: November 30, 2012

On Monday, FirstEnergy and Constellation both announced executive appointments affecting their nuclear fleets.

At FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Co. (FENOC), Peter P. Sena III was promoted from chief operating officer to chief nuclear officer, with Sam Belcher stepping in as the company’s new COO Dec. 10.

Sena began his FENOC career in 1996 as an assistant shift supervisor at Beaver Valley, where he worked his way up to site vice president in 2007. He was made a senior FENOC vice president in 2010 and given the COO position in 2011.

Belcher comes to his new position from Constellation Energy Nuclear Group (CENG) where he was senior vice president of site operations.

That utility announced its own nuclear leadership changes Monday, with Calvert Cliffs General Manager Christopher Costanzo appointed as site vice president at Nine Mile Point. Mark Flaherty will replace him as general manager at Calvert Cliffs.

First National Insurance Agency, a unit of First National Bank of Pennsylvania, recently hired Michael Barbarita as managing director and chief operating officer.

In this role, Barbarita will oversee marketing, risk management services and bonds across the firm’s three-state market presence that includes Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia. He will be based at the firms’s headquarters in Pittsburgh’s North Shore.

Barbarita has extensive insurance brokerage and account management experience. Previously, he spent three decades with Marsh USA Inc. in a variety of capacities. Most recently, he served as East Central partnership leader with responsibility for offices in Ohio, Kentucky and Pennsylvania, and as office head for the company’s Pittsburgh office.

First National Insurance Agency, an independent agent and broker, is one of the largest insurance agencies in Pennsylvania.

Deborah McGrew has been named COO of the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, which is a component of the Austin-based University of Texas System with four schools, research facilities and a network of hospitals and clinics.

Ms. McGrew will be responsible for leading, planning and integrating all aspects of UTMB Health System.

Ms. McGrew is currently the associate vice president of the University of Alabama Birmingham Hospital. She will join UTMB on Jan. 17, 2013.

Barnett new chairman of Capitol Music Group: Exec was former co-chairman at Columbia Records

Kicking off a new era for EMI’s labels at Universal Music Group, Steve Barnett has been named chairman-CEO of UMG’s Capitol Music Group. The appointment, which had been rumored, was made by UMG chairman-CEO Lucian Grainge, to whom Barnett will report. Barnett, who will be based at the Capitol Tower in L.A., was previously co-chairman-COO at Columbia Records. He will now take management responsibility for the EMI properties acquired by UMG for $1.9 billion in September: Capitol Records, Virgin Records, Blue Note, Astralwerks, Havest, Capitol Christian Music Group, Caroline and Capitol Studios. Unlike the 1999 merger of PolyGram and UMG, which ultimately melded those two companies’ music holdings, UMG is opting to maintain the EMI labels as a stand-alone unit under Barnett. Grainge said in a statement, “As we begin to invest in and revitalize EMI globally, the Capitol Music Group, including Virgin, will play a central role in our creative and commercial initiatives. And there is no one better to spearhead this than Steve. His entrepreneurial approach and intuitive ability to build, strengthen and transform artists into powerful global brands has resulted in remarkable success.” Barnett segues to UMG from Sony Music Entertainment, where he spent 16 years in a variety of senior management roles. At Columbia, he had reported to Doug Morris, who was supplanted as UMG chairman-CEO by Grainge in 2011. Columbia had witnessed recent success with such acts as Adele, One Direction and Foster the People. Barnett said, “It was not an easy decision to leave such a successful company as Columbia, with its incredibly talented artists and the team of people who work so hard on their behalf. However, I know that the label is in great hands and I wish them all the best in the future as I move on to my new company home.” Barnett joined Sony’s Epic imprint in 1996 as senior vp of internation and rose to senior vp of worldwide marketing in 1997. After serving as executive vp-GM, he was named president of Epic in 2004. The following year, he was appointed chairman-COO at Columbia. For four years, he co-chaired the label with producer Rick Rubin, who ankled the company in 2011.

Ahold announced the appointment of James McCann as Chief Operating Officer, Ahold USA, effective February 1, 2013. He will be taking over the role from Carl Schlicker, who has announced his retirement. James will continue as a member of Ahold’s Corporate Executive Board.

‘’I am very pleased that we have a strong leader for Ahold USA from within our own organization,’’ said Dick Boer, Chief Executive Officer of Ahold. ‘’Since his start with Ahold, James has focused on strengthening our e-commerce proposition and customer loyalty programs as part of the company’s robust growth strategy that was launched last year and is now being implemented. This appointment is a natural next step for James. With his international experience in leading roles at global retailers, James is very well qualified to take on this important role within Ahold.

‘’At the same time I would like to thank Carl for his long-term contribution to our company,’’ Boer continued. ‘’During his last 25 years with Ahold, Carl has helped to build a very strong foundation for Ahold USA through his focus on operational excellence and driving customer loyalty by delivering value, quality and service. I am delighted that he has agreed to continue with us in an advisory capacity.”

James McCann joined Ahold in 2011 as Chief Commercial & Development Officer. A search for his successor has been initiated.

MILWAUKEE, Nov. 27, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — HarQen is pleased to announce that Ane Ohm has been promoted to President and Chief Operating Officer. She has been instrumental in bringing HarQen’s products to market and in growing its base of Fortune 500 customers.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20121127/CG19347)

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110527/MM10689LOGO)

Co-Founder E. Kelly Fitzsimmons will transition out of her CEO role by the end of 2012 to focus on efforts to define and shape the emerging market for Hypervoice conversations, a new paradigm for organizing, performing and navigating voice conversations.  She will remain on HarQen’s Board of Directors.

“After working closely with Ane over the last two years, I know HarQen is in very capable hands,” said Fitzsimmons.

Prior to HarQen, Ane led a turnaround and positive exit as President of LaserNet, Inc., a statement print/mail company. Before LaserNet, she was Vice President at Pinstripe, Inc., where she played a key role in the company’s rapid growth in recruitment process outsourcing (RPO). Before joining Pinstripe, she held various leadership roles at Strong Financial Corporation, including Vice President and Director of Mutual Fund Administration. Ane started her career as an auditor with Coopers & Lybrand (now PricewaterhouseCoopers) after graduating with a Bachelor of Business Administration in accounting from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

“It’s a perfect time to make a transition,” added Fitzsimmons. “Ane is superbly qualified.”

“I’m delighted to step into my new role and lead HarQen through its growth curve,” said Ane Ohm. “I’m grateful to Kelly for pulling together such an outstanding team. It is an honor to work at HarQen.”

“This operational change expands Ane’s key role in growing HarQen, freeing Kelly to help define and establish standards for the rapidly-emerging Hypervoice market, in which HarQen is an early player with disruptive technology,” said Lauren Flanagan, Chairman, HarQen and Managing Director Phenomenelle Angels Fund and BELLE Capital USA, LP.

HarQen was an early adopter of Hypervoice conversations, a term first introduced by Martin Geddes, a well-respected telecom expert and founder of Martin Geddes Consulting Ltd.

“By linking what we say to what we do in our daily workflow, Hypervoice conversations will transcend the limits of telephony in the enterprise,” said Geddes.

About HarQen
HarQen unleashes the richness of information trapped inside conversations – transforming talk into actionable insights.  HarQen’s award-winning, Intelligent Hypervoice platform enables conversations to be captured, enriched, organized and shared – improving collaboration and adding an entirely new layer of business intelligence to existing data management systems. Milwaukee-based HarQen was founded in 2007 and is venture backed.

For more information on HarQen:
Web http://harqen.com/

For more information on Hypervoice:
Web http://Hypervoice.org/
Twitter #Hypervoice
To learn more about Hypervoice, register for a virtual conference on 12/12/12 at 12pm ET. Registration is limited. http://Hypervoice.org/workshop

Trademarks
Hypervoice is a trademark of the Hypervoice Consortium LLC. HarQen and Symposia are trademarks of HarQen, Inc. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Contact:
Lindsay Seabrook
+1.414.755.1962
lindsay@harqen.com

SOURCE HarQen

The Houston area’s largest bank holding company will lose a major deal maker, Wall Street whisperer and regional problem solver when Dan Rollins III logs his last day this week.

Rollins, Prosperity Bancshares Inc.’s (NYSE: PB) No. 2 man, president and COO, plans to take over the CEO post at Tupelo, Miss.-based BancorpSouth Inc. (NYSE: BXS), the parent company of BancorpSouth Bank. People familiar with Rollins said he has been integral to many aspects to the publicly traded bank company, but industry observers say although his departure is initially a loss for the bank, the executive team at Prosperity will be able to bounce back. Rollins was not immediately available for comment.

Prosperity’s stock closed slightly lower Monday, dipping 1.02 percent to $40.80 per share.

Much of Prosperity’s day-to-day operations are led by a team of executives. However, Rollins spent about 30 percent to 40 percent of his time speaking with Wall Street analysts and investment bankers, played the lead role in many of Prosperity’s acquisitions over the years, and would step in when the bank’s regional leaders couldn’t get something done, said David Zalman, chairman and CEO of Prosperity. So, I asked Zalman, who will take Rollins place?

“Initially, we’re not making a decision just yet,” Zalman said. “We probably have an executive management team that could run a $30 billion bank. We’ll miss Dan, but at the same time, there will be opportunities for other people.”

Zalman added it’ll take some time to decide whether to replace Rollins with executives who would take over his various roles — dealing with the Street, negotiating acquisitions or taking care of regional presidents and chairmen.

“I think they’re going to pick up the pieces just fine,” said Matt Olney, a financial services sector analyst with Little Rock, Ark.-based Stephens Inc. “But when you lose someone as talented and hard-working as (Rollins), it’s never a positive thing. There are some uncertainties there, but the bank has been around for a while, and it has some talent coming up.”

In a statement Monday, Prosperity said it will divvy up Rollins’ responsibilities between several executives.

Since September 2011, and with Rollins leading the charge, Prosperity acquired or agreed to acquire five financial institutions — the $72.5 million-asset Austin-based Texas Bankers Inc., $210.6 million-asset Tyler-based East Texas Financial Services Inc., $37.3 million-asset Arlington-based The Bank Arlington, $3.08 billion-asset Lubbock-based American State Financial Corp., and the $181 million-asset Bellaire-based Community National Bank.

“On the (mergers and acquisition) side, it’s kind of like a project-by-project basis. I think that can be handled,” said Dan Bass, managing director of FBR Capital Markets & Co. in Houston. “They can even outsource some of that, if need be, to lean on their advisers a little bit more to do the analytical work. I think that part of it will get done, based on who they want to buy and when and all that.”

Prior to BancorpSouth recruiting Rollins, industry observers believed the bank could be a buyout target. BancorpSouth Bank has 2.83 percent in nonperforming assets over assets, growing from 0.53 percent in the same period in 2008 but declining from 3.79 percent at the end of 2011, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

But with Rollins at the helm, BancorpSouth could be a player in acquisitions in coming years and could even, one day, have its eye on Texas, Bass added.

Still, Rollins will have some challenges in his new role, Zalman said.

“He’s really going to have to (increase) efficiency and try to get some of the loan problems taken care of,” Zalman said. “That’s probably going to be his foremost task.”

Dan Rollins, president and COO of Prosperity
Bancshares Inc. (NYSE: PB), announced his
resignation Monday to join BancorpSouth Inc.
(NYSE: BXS) as CEO. 

KNOXVILLE, Tenn., Nov. 27, 2012 — /PRNewswire/ — The Rush Fitness Complex announced the promotion of Steve Saxton from president to chief executive officer and David Carney from chief operating officer to president and chief operating officer. Larry Gurney, founder and current chief executive, will retain his position as chairman of the board.

(Photo:  http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20121127/CL18616-a ) (Photo:  http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20121127/CL18616-b ) (Logo:  http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20121127/CL18616LOGO-c )

Founded in 2000, The Rush is a 23-club fitness concept with units in Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. Last year’s fitness industry magazine Club Industry listed The Rush as the 22nd largest fitness club chain in the United States.

Saxton and Carney both joined The Rush in August 2012 after a nationwide search for a COO yielded two exceptional candidates, which led to Gurney and the board deciding to hire them both. Previously, Saxton was chief operating officer of In-Shape, a Stockton, Calif.-based chain of fitness clubs. Carney was an executive at Denver-based Wellbridge after serving as SVP operations at Tampa, Fla.-based Lifestyle Family Fitness.

“It’s been over a year since we started our original search for a new COO to join our executive team. As good fortune would have it, we not only found our new COO in David Carney but also found our new President in Steve Saxton. Our objective was to create a leadership team that would take our company to the next level of growth, and allow me to take a less active role in the day-to-day operations,” said Gurney. “Our decision to elevate them so soon is a testament to their ability to fit in with our team and adapt to the unique culture that defines The Rush.”

“I am deeply honored to follow Larry Gurney’s inspired leadership of The Rush and to serve this great organization as its next chief executive officer,” said Saxton. “The Rush has built an unparalleled reputation for serving its members with care and excellence and providing a fun, exciting and motivating club environment. I am thrilled by the opportunity to continue to build out the concept into new geographies and to maintain the reputation for top quality service that has been the hallmark of The Rush.”

Founded in 2001, The Rush Fitness Complex is one of the fastest growing Health Club Companies in America, with 23 locations, open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The Rush mixes entertainment and fitness to create an exciting environment that allows its members to experience a Rush of their own. For more information about The Rush visit www.therush247.com.

Nov. 27–TUPELO –BancorpSouth looked outside its ranks to name a new chief executive.

James D. “Dan” Rollins III, 53, was named CEO of BancorpSouth on Monday. Since 2006, he had been president and chief operating officer of Prosperity Bancshares. The Houston, Texas-based financial holding company, whose chief subsidiary is Prosperity Bank, has 213 locations across Texas and about $13.9 billion in assets.

Rollins replaces longtime CEO Aubrey Patterson, who earlier this year said he would step down by next April. Patterson has been with BancorpSouth since 1972 and has been chairman and CEO since 1991. Rollins officially begins Wednesday. Patterson will stay on as chairman of the board through April.

Hassell Franklin, who headed the search committee, said Rollins “emerged as the leading candidate.”

Global executive search firm Spencer Stuart of Chicago helped conduct the search.

In a statement, Rollins said, “BancorpSouth is a respected financial services company in our industry with a long and distinguished record of service to its shareholders, customers and local communities. Aubrey Patterson’s 40-plus years of dedicated service have positioned BancorpSouth well. I am pleased to have this opportunity to follow Mr. Patterson, and to build on such a strong foundation of respect and accomplishment.”

Patterson was named BancorpSouth’s chairman and CEO in 1991, and has been on the board of directors since 1983. He was president and CEO from 1990 to 1991 and was president and COO from 1983 to 1990. He joined what was then the Bank of Mississippi in 1972.

“My years of service to BancorpSouth have been my life’s chosen work,” Patterson said. “Moving ahead, I look forward to working with Dan Rollins in a successful and seamless transition. I congratulate Hassell Franklin and the board’s search committee on their excellent work in selecting Dan. I believe BancorpSouth’s best years are yet to come.”

David Zalman, Prosperity’s chairman and CEO, said, “On behalf of everyone at Prosperity, we would like to thank Dan for the many contributions he has made to the organization over the years. We are excited for Dan in his new role and we wish him success in his new endeavor.”

ROLLINS’ CAREER

Rollins earned his Bachelor of Business Administration in finance from the University of Texas in 1983, then began his banking career with First State Bank and Trust Co. in Port Lavaca and Bay City, Texas. In 1984, he joined Prosperity and began his 18-year climb up the corporate ladder.

He was president of Prosperity’s Matagorda Banking Centers from 1994 until 2002. Most recently he was president and COO of Prosperity Bank, roles he assumed in April 2006.

Rollins oversaw a rapid expansion at Prosperity. In the past year, it acquired five Texas banks. In July, it closed a $3 billion acquisition of American State Bank in Lubbock.

Some industry observers have suggested Rollins will look to grow BancorpSouth with its own acquisitions.

In a research brief, financial analyst Matt Olney of Stephens Inc., said the hiring of Rollins would remove the possibility, at least in the near-term, of a potential acquisition of BancorpSouth.

“However, given Rollins’ background of running one of the leanest banks within the industry, we expect substantial improvements in BancorpSouth’s efficiency ratio down to peer levels,” Olney wrote.

BancorpSouth has been a client of Stephens, the company disclosed. Olney’s compensation will not be related to his views in the research brief, Stephens added.

Olney also said BancorpSouth’s earnings per share could approach $1.65 a share and stock could reach $20. BancorpSouth (NYSE: BXS) shares have traded between $8.81 and $15.69 a share during the past 52 weeks. On Monday, it closed at $13.02, down 54 cents, or nearly 4 percent.

Trading volume of the bank’s stock was heavy on Monday, with more than 1.5 million shares traded. On average during the past three months, about 494,000 shares of BancorpSouth were traded daily.

dennis.seid@journalinc.com

Real estate services company Jones Lang LaSalle said the chief executive of its Americas division, Peter Roberts, will become chief strategy offficer and be replaced by Chief Operating and Financial Officer Lauralee Martin, effective Jan. 1.

“In the newly created role of chief strategy offficer, he will combine his real estate expertise, client-first perspective and critical thinking to help implement our growth strategy for the future,” Jones Lang LaSalle Chief Executive Colin Dyer said in a statement.

During Roberts’ 10-year tenure as CEO of the Americas, annual revenue in the region has grown six-fold through organic growth and mergers, said Chicago-based Jones Lang LaSalle (NYSE: JLL). He also has been a member of the firm’s Global Executive Committee, which guides the company’s global strategy. Roberts joined Jones Lang LaSalle in 1986, and prior to being named CEO, Americas, he held various leadership roles at the firm, including chief operating officer and chief financial officer.

Martin joined Jones Lang LaSalle in 2002 as chief financial officer and added chief operating officer duties in 2005. The company said she built the firm’s industry-leading Energy and Sustainability Services business, helped structure acquisitions around the world, and helped improve productivity by developing a globally unified technology platform. Prior to joining Jones Lang LaSalle, Martin led the real estate businesses at Heller Financial Inc. and General Electric Capital Corp.

“Lauralee’s combined experience, and her quick and decisive approach, make her uniquely qualified to lead the Americas into a period of further rapid revenue growth,” Dyer said. Martin will retain CFO responsibilities until a replacement is found.

Chief Operating and Financial
Officer Lauralee Martin is replacing
Peter Roberts, chief executive of Jones
Lang LaSalle’s Americas division, who
has been named chief strategy offficer.