Drew Industries Inc.’s Chief Executive Officer Leigh J. Abrams will relinquish his role as president next month, the company said today.

Chief Financial Officer Fred M. Zinn will assume the role of president May 28, in keeping with the company’s management-succesion plan. Zinn, 57, has served as CFO since 1986 and as executive vice president since 2001.

The supplier of components to the recreational-vehicle and manufactured-homes industries also said it expects its board to promote Corporate Controller and Treasurer Joseph S. Giordano III, 39, to CFO at the company’s annual meeting May 28. Giordano would resign his controller’s title but remain treasurer, Drew Industries said.

Assistant Controller Christopher L. Smith will succeed Giordano as corporate controller, the White Plains-based company said.

The company’s stock, traded on the New York Stock Exchange, was higher in midday trading, up 34 cents to $26.45 a share.

Mark Stenberg, the newest member of the board of directors of Nutrition 21 Inc. of Purchase, has a three-year employment agreement as senior vice president and holds a 5 percent secured note on the company for $1.25 million, Nutrition 21 said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Stenberg was chief executive officer and owner of 50 percent of Iceland Health, a nutritional supplement marketer that Nutrition 21 bought in August 2006. In the filing this week, the company said it paid Stenberg $500,000 cash and 4.75 million shares of stock, in addition to the note, for his interest in Iceland Health.
As of Monday, accrued interest on the note was $102,000. The note and interest are due in August 2009. Stenberg also qualifies for up to $1.25 million in additional payments if certain sales benchmarks are reached.
Stenberg’s base salary is $225,000, plus a possible bonus. His employment contract ends on Aug. 25, 2009.

The senior vice president of manufacturing operations at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. of Eastview is on unpaid leave of absence and will retire on Oct. 1, the company said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Dr. Randall Rupp had been with the company for 16 years. During his unpaid leave, he will be eligible for medical and other employee benefits. The leave was effective April 1; on April 4, he was no longer an executive officer of the company.
Regeneron said that Daniel Van Plew, formerly vice president and general manager, industrial operations and product supply, was promoted on April 4 to senior vice president and general manager, industrial operations and product supply.

A listing on a popular Internet jobs board for a new general manager at Palisades Center means the county’s largest retail complex may soon be under new leadership.

Postings on Monster.com yesterday showed “immediate openings” for both a general manager and the newly created position of assistant manager.

The mall’s current general manager, Peter Janoff, who has overseen operations since 2005, didn’t return calls seeking comment about the ads.

Palisades Center spokeswoman Lee Marie Dell’Accio confirmed that the complex was looking to hire a new general manager and noted that Janoff was still on the job.

Dell’Accio referred further questions to the mall’s owner, Syracuse-based Pyramid Management Group Inc. A call placed to the human resources manager there wasn’t returned.

Also not returned was a call placed to mall partner Tom Valenti.

Mark Day has been named senior director of cognitive neuroscience at PsychoGenics Inc., a biotechnology company based in Tarrytown. Day previously oversaw programs aimed at developing treatments for schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s disease at Wyeth Neuroscience and GlaxoSmithKline.

John Librie has been named senior vice president of sales and marketing at Acorda Therapeutics Inc., a biotechnology company based in Hawthorne. Librie, who has more than 25 years experience in the industry, joined Acorda in October 2003 as executive director of marketing and commercialization. He was promoted to vice president of sales and marketing in March 2005.

Denise Coll has been promoted to president of the North America division at Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. of White Plains. It is the largest of Starwood’s operating divisions with more than $9 billion in annual revenue. Coll began her career in the hospitality industry as a reservation manager at the Sheraton Boston Hotel in 1977. She joined Starwood as regional vice president of operations for New England in 2004 and was promoted to senior vice president of operations for the North America division in 2005.

George Dinsmore was named director of business development at Hudson Technologies Inc., a Pearl River-based refrigerant services company. Dinsmore, 50, has nearly 30 years of experience in the refrigerant and industrial gas industries. He spent the past 13 years working at senior management levels at Honeywell Chemicals, one of the world’s largest refrigerant manufacturers. For the past 8 years, he was responsible for managing the sales of Honeywell’s refrigerant business as North American sales manager.

Bruce L. Downey, chairman and chief executive officer of Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc., will turn over much of the day-to-day management to newly appointed heads of the company’s operating businesses in a major management restructuring.

Barr, a drug manufacturer which has major operations in Rockland County, said that Downey will keep his current poitions but spend more time on strategic responsibilities. As part of the changes, Barr named CEOs to oversee its generic drug and branded pharmaceutical businesses.

“The senior management team at Barr has long been recognized internally and externally as among the most talented in the industry, and their individual and collective contributions are critical to our success in the specialty pharmaceuticals sector,” Downey said in a written statement. “Today, I am pleased to elevate these key executives to additional significant areas of responsibility…”

Christine Mundkur was named CEO of Barr Laboratories Inc., the company’s generic pharmaceutical business. Since joining the company in 1993, she has held various management jobs. Her most recent assignment was executive vice president of global quality, safety and regulatory affairs. During 2007, she worked at the company’s European headquarters in Croatia.

Barr, based in Montvale, N.J., also named Fred Wilkinson as the CEO of Duramed Pharmaceuticals, the company’s proprietary products business. Wilkinson, who joined Barr in 2006, has more than 25 years of experience in the industry. His prior jobs include serving as CEO of Columbia Laboratories and working as chief operating officer and senior vice president at Watson Pharmaceuticals.

In other changes, Mike Bogda was named president and chief operating officer of Barr Laboratories; Timothy Sawyer was named executive vice president, global generic sales and marketing, of Barr Laboratories; and Bill McKee, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Barr Pharmaceuticals, will assume an expanded role.

John Compton, chief executive officer of PepsiCo Americas, has been elected to the board of Pepsi Bottling Group in Somers. Prior to his current position, Compton served as CEO of PepsiCo North America. Previously, he was president and CEO of the company’s Quaker Tropicana Gatorade division.

Fred C. Pastore has been named managing director and treasurer at MBIA Inc., the Armonk-based bond insurer that has reported heavy losses stemming from its exposure to subprime loans.

Pastore, who has more than 18 years of experience in the financial guarantee industry, began his career at Moody’s as an analyst in the municipal bond insurance group.

Aureon Laboratories Inc. named former ImClone Systems Inc. executive Ana I. Stancic as its chief financial officer, the biotechnology company said today.

Stancic joins the Yonkers-based company in the newly created post as its prepares bring its prostate cancer prognostic test to market later this spring.

Stancic most recently served as executive vice president and CFO at Omrix Biopharmaceuticals.

Prior to that, she was senior vice president of finance at ImClone, the Manhattan-based biopharmaceutical company that was at the center of Martha Stewart’s conviction of conspiracy and obstruction of justice charges in 2004.

ITT Corp. has boosted Chairman, President and Chief Executive Steven R. Loranger’s salary 13 percent to $1.13 million effective March 1, the White Plains-based conglomerate disclosed in a regulatory filing today.

The company’s board of directors also set the annual salaries of four other executives, including Chief Financial Officer Denise L. Ramos, who now earns $540,000.

A member of the board at MBIA Inc. is stepping down to take a position as a consultant to help the bond insurer’s senior management assess future risk, the company said today.

Debra Perry, who has served as a director of the company since 2004, was asked by the company to take the position, which will help the board’s credit-risk committee and Chairman and Chief Executive Joseph W. Brown “to refine and implement MBIA’s risk strategy for the global credit markets” as part of its 5-year restructuring plan, MBIA said.

The Armonk-based company has been hard hit by the subprime mortgage crisis.

Perry’s resignation from the board is effective today, MBIA said.

It isn’t known how much Perry will be paid in her new position. An MBIA spokesman didn’t immediately respond to a request for additional information.

As MBIA director, Perry earned nearly $156,000 in 2006.

Prior to joining MBIA, Perry worked for 12 years at bond-rating agency Moody’s Corp., serving as chief administrative officer and chief credit officer with responsibility over several rating groups.

Tyco International Ltd. reported today it has named former PepsiCo Inc. executive Arun Nayar, 57, as the Bermuda-based conglomerate’s senior vice president and treasurer.

Nayar, who will work from Princeton, N.J., recently served as Purchase-based PepsiCo’s chief financial officer of operations.

MBIA Inc., the Armonk-based bond insurer hit hard by the subprime mortgage crisis, announced yesterday that it will eliminate 48 jobs as part of a restructuring plan.

All of the cuts will take place in MBIA’s insurance business. Many of the affected employees will move into different jobs, including the company’s asset management business that is not affected by the workforce reorganization, according to the company.

Jay Brown, MBIA chairman and chief executive officer, said that adjusting the company’s work force is critical as MBIA looks to improve its financial position and restore faith with investors.

“As much as I love my job, making tough decisions that negatively impact our employees is, without a doubt, the hardest part,� Brown said in a written statement. “In making these decisions, we have tried to do so quickly and in a manner that is as painless and generous as possible, with the same treatment for every employee who will leave our organization.�

MBIA’s stock has fallen 82 percent during the past year as the market for subprime mortgages to riskier borrowers weakened and foreclosures soared. Investors have been concerned that the problems for MBIA and other financial companies may not be over with the country mired in the weakest housing market in 25 years. For MBIA, the pain intensified in the fourth quarter when it reported a loss of $2.3 billion, the worst quarterly loss in its history.

MBIA and other bond insurers have taken big write-downs on the mortgage debt that they had insured.

“The MBIA senior management team has moved decisively in the last three weeks to assess the talent and workforce composition required to address our immediate needs and the skills that will allow us to compete effectively in the future,� Brown added.

Even though it is eliminating positions, MBIA said that it also is recruiting 15 to 20 new workers for “strategic roles� and filling another 10 open positions.

MBIA reported 483 employees worldwide as of Dec. 31, including 365 in its insurance business and 118 in asset management. Most of the eliminated positions will be in Armonk, where MBIA has 416 employees.

Shares of MBIA fell 58 cents to $11.60 in trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

Tremont Capital Management, a Rye-based manager of fund of hedge fund portfolios, has named Susan Crotty the managing director of investment management services. Crotty was formerly senior vice president at Callan Associates, a consulting firm based in San Francisco.

The Reader’s Digest Association Inc., the iconic magazine publisher based in Chappaqua, yesterday named former More magazine Executive Editor Barbara O’Dair to the post of executive editor at Reader’s Digest.

At More, O’Dair worked with current Reader’s Digest Editor-in-Chief Peggy Northrop. O’Dair has held senior posts at Teen People, Details and Entertainment Weekly magazines, among others, Reader’s Digest said.

O’Dair will share duties with fellow executive editor Tom Prince, who joined the company last month.

Todd C. McCarty has been named senior vice president of global human resources at Reader’s Digest Association Inc. in Chappaqua. Previously, McCarty was senior vice president of human resources at the pharmacy chain Rite Aid Corp.

MasterCard Inc., the Purchase-based credit card giant, said that executive W. Roy Dunbar is leaving the company. Dunbar, 46, has been president of MasterCard’s global technology and operations since 2004. He will leave on Jan. 31 to become chief executive officer of a company outside the payments industry. Details of his new job will be announced soon, according to MasterCard.