PEOPLE NEWS

David M. Smith has resigned from his position on the board of directors for CoolBrands International, manufacturer of ice creams and other frozen snacks.

Smith said in a written statement that his resignation is due to a desire to pursue other endeavors. Recently, Smith had sold Calip Dairies, Inc., distributor or CoolBrands products to the New York metro-area, to an undisclosed third party. The distribution agreements made prior to the sale between Calip and CoolBrands remain in effect.

"The company understands David's desire to move on to other endeavors and thanks him for all his years of service to the company," said David J. Stein, co-chairman, president and CEO of CoolBrands.

In other people news, The Hershey Co. has appointed Humberto Alfonso to vice president of finance and planning for its U.S. commercial group. In this position, Alfonso will oversee financial and planning support to the commercial group, as well as provide insight and analysis for the company's value-enhancing strategy.

Alfonso will report to the senior vice president and CFO, to David West. Alfonso will also support Christopher Baldwin, senior vice president of Hershey's U.S. commercial group.

"Throughout his career, he has maintained a strong focus on driving profitable growth, and he will play a key role in providing the financial insights, analysis and tools to help Hershey realize the opportunities in the U.S. confectionary and snack markets," said West.

Alfonso comes to Hershey's from Cadbury Schweppes, where he was the executive vice president of finance and CFO of its Americas Beverages. He joined Cadbury in 2003 as the vice president of finance.

In petroleum news, Nova Energy Holdings Inc. has named two new members to its board of directors -- Robert Black, former senior vice president in the office of the chairman for Texaco, Inc., and Robert W. White, former president of Mobil Exploration and Producing U.S.

Black is retired from his position at Texaco, where he had overseen the development and management of the company's worldwide businesses activities. After graduating from Texas tech University in 1958, Black joined Texaco as a field engineer in the producing department, located in Monument, N.M. Black has also served on the boards for Caltex Petroleum Corp., Arabian American Oil Co., Amoseas Indonesia and other Texaco subsidiaries.

"He has tremendous expertise in managing an oil company and is personally very interested in seeing out nation focus on domestic alternative fuels such as biodiesel," said Kenneth Hern, Nova's chairman and CEO.

Black has also been a director for the American Petroleum Institute, the National Association of Manufactures and the U.S. Saudi Arabian Business Council. He is also a member of the Society of Professional Engineers, and was elected chairman to the Texas Tech University Systems board of regents, where he will continue serving until 2007.

Robert White comes to this position from 30 years at Mobil, where he spent half of his career outside of the U.S. He has spent time working in London, Nigeria, the Netherlands, Indonesia and Libya, ensuring the production of millions of barrels of oil in the U.S. and abroad. He also played a part in multi-million dollar contracts for the exploration and production of crude oil and natural gas for Mobil Oil.

Prior to joining Mobil, White was a captain in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. White has also served as chairman of the Petroleum Science and Technology Institute, based in the U.K.

Nova Energy Inc. is the trade name for Nova Oil, Inc., but the company plans to change the name in the near future. Nova synthesizes and distributed renewable fuel products, and has plans to build and operate between two and four biodiesel refineries with a production capacity of 120 to 240 million gallons of biodesel annually.

In technology news, The Steritech Group, Inc. has appointed three new members to its executive team -- Richard Ennis to the position of president and COO for food safety and pest prevention, Eric Eicher, co-founder, and Lorri MacHarg, vice president of operations for the food safety division.

Ennis comes to the new position from his previous role as the president and COO of the food safety division. In that role he increased revenues by 20 percent while expanding service capabilities and quality.

Eicher, a co-founder and previous president and COO of the pest prevention division, has gained the role of exploring alternative growth strategies. The company primarily focuses on its organic growth. To do this, Eicher will oversee acquisitions and partnerships.

MacHarg has been with Steritech for six years, where she served management, auditing, and quality assurance roles. She will manage the food safety division's day-to-day operations.

Steritech provides brand protection services for the many industries including retail and food processing. Founded in 1986, the Charlotte, N.C.-based company provides food safety, quality assurance and pest prevention services in North American and 28 countries.

In other people news, John Cheneler has joined the Pinnacle Corp. as its vice president of sales. His primary focus will be overseeing sales and market development, as well as providing leadership on the company's convenience store and fuel petroleum business.

Cheneler has more than 24 years of experience in strategic development for Fortune 500 companies and start-up endeavors. He comes to this position from Greater Good Analytics, located in Dallas, Texas, where he was the CEO.

"With his significant corporate and field sales experience, he is the twenty-first century sales executive we need to keep pace with our industry leadership position and key product developments," said president Bob Johnson.

He has also held executive-level roles at other companies including Merck & Co., Verizon Communications, IBM, ProSoft Corp. and Dallas-based consulting group Shotwell & Carr.

Pinnacle delivers products that automate convenience store operations and also provides supply chain solutions for fuel operations.
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