010330 McDonald's Says CFO Conley to RetireMarch 10, 2001Chicago - McDonald's Corp. said that Chief Financial Officer Michael Conley was retiring, and the company has begun a search for his replacement. Conley, 52, has served as McDonald's CFO since 1996. McDonald's spokesman Walt Riker said an executive search for his replacement is under way, but he declined to discuss the details. “This is a personal decision Mike made some time ago,” Riker said. “After 26 great years with McDonald's, Mike has decided to retire. Meanwhile, Mike is continuing to actively serve as CFO, as he will through the transition.” Whoever steps into Conley's shoes, filling arguably the company's second most visible spot in Wall Street's eyes after Chairman and Chief Executive Jack Greenberg, will likely face a tough job in the near term. The company is struggling with external financial woes that include fluctuations in worldwide currency markets and an outbreak of mad cow disease in parts of continental Europe, which continues to damp sales there. Greenberg, an accountant and attorney by training, himself once filled the CFO post at McDonald's. Shares in McDonald's shares fell 45 cents to close at $28.40 in New York Stock Exchange trading. The stock has a 52-week trading range of $26.375 to $39.9375. In the past year, the stock has slightly underperformed the Dow Jones Industrial Average. “The stock has lagged, but that has not been due to financial controls,” said Edward Jones analyst Patrick Schumann, adding that Conley had been “well respected” in his post. In recent years, McDonald's has opened up to consider more outside candidates in top posts, he added, something once unheard at the historically insular company. Last month, the company named Tom Ryan, its head of menu management, to its top U.S. marketing post, replacing Larry Zwain, who will now oversee part of the company's international business. Both men are relative newcomers to McDonald's. Industry sources said Oak Brook, Illinois-based McDonald's has hired executive search firm Korn/Ferry International to conduct the search. The firm's Chicago office beat out several other well-known executive search firms, the sources said.
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