CFOs On the Move: Week ending Jan. 10

James Whitlinger | Freddie Mac

Freddie Mac’s interim CFO James Whitlinger will take on the role permanently. Whitlinger became interim CFO in June 2024 to replace Christian Lown. Lown left the company after four years in the top finance spot to become CFO of commercial real estate information provider CoStar Group. Whitlinger has worked at Freddie Mac for the last 10 years and was previously the company’s senior vice president and Single-Family CFO since 2014. Whitlinger has worked in the real estate finance industry for over three decades, including as senior vice president at Univest Bank and Trust Co. and as CFO at GMAC ResCap.

Robert Langer | Sphere Entertainment

Robert Langer was appointed chief financial officer of Sphere Entertainment, the live entertainment and media company that owns the Sphere venue in Las Vegas and MSG Networks. Langer, who will take over on Jan. 13, most recently worked at The Walt Disney Company as its global leader of enterprise-wide financial planning and corporate strategy. Langer first joined Disney in 1999, and held various divisional financial leadership positions across the business during his 25-year tenure, including as CFO of Disney ABC television group, Disney consumer products, Disneyland resort and Disney global toys. Before that, he was a senior case leader at The Boston Consulting Group, focusing on the consumer products, retail and media industries.

Tammy Romo | Southwest Airlines

Southwest Airlines’ chief financial officer, Tammy Romo, will retire on April 1 after more than three decades with the airline. Romo joined the company in 1991 and has held the top finance position since 2012. Over her tenure, she has also held several leadership roles, including head of investor relations, controller, treasurer and senior vice president for planning. Romo was appointed to the Board of Directors of Tenet Healthcare in 2015 and serves as Chair of the audit committee. Southwest said it will begin a search for her successor.

Paul Carbone | Panera Brands

Panera Brands’ CFO Paul Carbone was named interim chief executive officer of the fast-casual restaurant company that includes Panera Bread, Caribou Coffee and Einstein Bros. Carbone steps in for José Alberto Dueñas, who has stepped down from his role and will become a special advisor through the end of March. Carbone has been chief financial officer of the company since 2023 and previously held CFO roles at Dunkin’ Brands, SharkNinja and YETI Holdings. 

William Cooper | Everspin Technologies

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Everspin Technologies, a maker of magnetoresistive random access memory, hired William Cooper as finance chief. Cooper joins the company from semiconductor company Advanced Micro Devices, where he held several executive finance positions since 2017 and was most recently director of financial planning and analysis. Before that, he was chief financial officer for the data division of Volex, a maker of data cables used in networking and data centers. Cooper replaces interim CFO Matt Tenorio, who took the role in July 2024. Tenorio will remain Everspin’s vice president of finance.

Christina Wong | Element Care PACE

Non-profit healthcare organization Element Care PACE appointed Christina Wong as its new finance chief.  Wong has held several leadership positions at Aetna, including chief financial officer at Aetna Better Health of NY, a Medicaid-managed long-term care health plan. She was earlier the head of Medicaid product at Healthfirst, NYC’s largest Medicare/Medicaid health plan that serves over one million New Yorkers with profit and loss responsibility for over $11 billion in revenue.

Ryan Lada | The AZEK Company

The AZEK Company, an outdoor living products manufacturer, promoted Ryan Lada to chief financial officer. Lada joined the company in July 2022 as vice president of corporate finance and was most recently vice president and CFO of the company’s residential segment. Before AZEK, he was vice president of finance at Tank Holding Corp. He earlier worked at Cantel Medical in several roles including chief financial officer of its global medical division and chief financial officer of Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Lada succeeds Peter Clifford, who is resigning as senior vice president, chief operations officer and CFO for another opportunity with a private company.  

Jerry Cheatham | Sonoco

Sustainable packaging company Sonoco appointed Jerry Cheatham as interim chief financial officer to replace outgoing CFO Rob Dillard. Dillard left the company after over two years as CFO. He joined the company in 2018 and was previously its chief strategy officer. Cheatham has been vice president of global finance for the company’s industrial paper packaging segment since Dec. 2022 and previously held several finance and accounting leadership roles since joining Sonoco in 1988.