First American Financial, a Santa Ana, Calif.-based provider of title insurance and real estate settlement services with $4 billion in 2009 revenue, named Max Valdes CFO. He succeeds Anthony "Buddy" Piszel, who exited the company in June when it spun off Corelogic. Valdes, 55, senior vice president of finance and chief accounting officer since 2006, joined the company in 1988 after working at Pricewaterhouse-Coopers. Separately, Mark Seaton, 33, was appointed senior vice president of finance.
Live Nation Entertainment, the $4.2 billion live entertainment and ticketing company, which merged with Ticketmaster in January, appointed Jan Berger as vice president of risk management. He succeeds Bill Taylor. Before joining Los Angeles-based Live Nation, Berger, 55, was treasurer and vice president at Smart & Final, a West Coast chain of warehouse stores. Prior to that, he served as treasurer of Autodesk and worked at Bechtel and Homestake Mining.
Verizon Communications, the New York City-based telecommunications company with $107 billion in 2009 revenue, named John Doherty head of investor relations. He replaces Ron Lataille, who was appointed senior vice president of finance, succeeding Bill Heitmann, who will retire at the end of the year. Doherty, 46, was most recently CFO and vice president for Verizon Services Operations. Lataille, 55, will head Verizon Investment Management, which runs about $55 billion in assets.
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Celgene Corp., a $2.6 billion biopharmaceutical company in Summit, N.J., named Jacqualyn Fouse CFO and senior vice president. She succeeds David Gryska, Celgene's CFO since 2006, who is resigning to pursue other opportunities. Fouse, 49, joins Celgene from Bunge Limited, a global agribusiness and food company, where she had served as CFO since 2007. Fouse was CFO and senior vice president of Alcon Laboratories from 2002 to 2007, and earlier served as group treasurer at Nestl?.
KB Home, the $1.8 billion home builder, promoted Thad Johnson to treasurer. He replaces Kelly Masuda, the treasurer since 2003, who resigned from the Los Angeles-based company to pursue another opportunity. Johnson, 39, had been KB Home's assistant treasurer for the last 2 1/2 years. Prior to that, Johnson served as an assistant vice president in U.S. Bancorp's commercial real estate group and spent 10 years in management consulting.
Domino's Pizza, the $1.4 billion restaurant chain, appointed Michael Lawton CFO and executive vice president of finance. He replaces Wendy Beck, who left to become CFO of Norwegian Cruise Line. Lawton, 51, had been executive vice president of the company's international division since 2004, and earlier served as that division's senior vice president of finance and administration. Prior to joining Domino's, Lawton worked at Gerber Products, where he served as corporate controller.
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