Ceridian investor Pershing Square disappointed by CFO's departure, lacks confidence in replacement

By Lisa Kerner

Charlotte, N.C., March 13 - Pershing Square Capital Management, LP, currently engaged in a proxy contest with the board of directors of Ceridian Corp., said it is disappointed that the company's chief financial officer Douglas C. Neve resigned effective March 8. Neve had been with Ceridian since March 2005.

The investor credits Neve with re-staffing and rebuilding Ceridian's finance and accounting organization, restoring investor confidence and driving the margin improvement program in the company's human resource solutions division.

"Once the proxy contest is behind the company, we hope Doug will consider building on the value that he has created for all of Ceridian's stakeholders, whether as an advisor to the board or senior management," Pershing Square's William A. Ackerman said in a news release.

Pershing Square also reacted to news that Gregory Macfarlane, formerly with General Electric WMC Mortgage, was named Ceridian's new chief financial officer.

"We are puzzled by the board's appointment of a division-level finance executive as CFO, supporting a chief executive officer who similarly lacks public company experience," Ackerman added. "We need to better understand how the company's compensation and human resources committee concluded that this was the right hire at this time, and how the search - if any - was conducted."

Ackerman said that Ceridian's board "has a uniquely undistinguished track record managing the company's executive ranks."

In addition to Macfarlane, a number of former General Electric employees are now at Ceridian, including chief executive officer Katheryn V. Marinello, executive vice president of human resource Kairus K. Tarapore and Michael Shea, executive vice president of quality and service.

Pershing Square Capital Management owns 20,532,734 shares, or 14.5%, of the Minneapolis information services company's outstanding stock.

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