Deere & Co., a $20.1 billion farm equipment maker based in Moline, Ill., named Michael Mack Jr. CFO and senior vice president. He succeeds Nathan Jones, who was named president of the worldwide commercial and consumer equipment division. Mack, 49, has been Deere's treasurer and vice president since June 2004. Previously, he held positions in information systems, corporate finance and business development and served as senior vice president of marketing and sales for the worldwide commercial and consumer equipment division. Mack rejoined Deere & Co. from Hewlett-Packard Co., where he worked as a research and development engineer after graduation. Mack started with Deere & Co. in 1978 as an engineer for the John Deere Des Moines Works while attending Iowa State University.

Marsh & McLennan Cos. (MMC), a $12.1 billion insurance brokerage provider based in New York City, named M. Michele Burns executive vice president. She will replace CFO Sandra Wijnberg when Wijnberg leaves the company in March. Burns, 47, joined MMC from Mirant Corp., where she served as CFO, chief restructuring officer and executive vice president. Previously, she spent five years at Delta Air Lines Inc., where her last position was CFO and executive vice president and worked at Arthur Andersen LLP as a senior tax partner.

Leslie Sears was named assistant controller of Gannett Co., a $7.3 billion newspaper publisher based in McLean, Va. She succeeds Frank Spasoff, who left the company to pursue other interests. Sears, 40, most recently was director of consolidation accounting and financial reporting after joining the company in 1998 as manager of consolidation accounting and financial reporting. Prior to joining Gannett, she was a senior audit manager at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP.