Gunmaker Smith & Wesson Holding Corp. has named attorney Jeffrey Buchanan as executive vice president, chief financial officer and treasurer. Buchanan, 55, has been a member of the company’s Board of Directors and Chairman of the Audit Committee since 2004.

 

Buchanan, who was most recently an attorney in the Phoenix office of Ballard Spahr, LLC, a national law firm based in Philadelphia, PA, has also worked as an investment banker and helped found and manage Alare Capital Securities LLC. He was previously Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer and Secretary of Three-Five Systems, Inc., a NYSE-listed technology company with global operations, and was also a senior partner with an Arizona-based law firm.


Effective with the appointment on Jan. 3, 2011, Buchanan resigns his position as a member of the Smith & Wesson Board of Directors.  I. Marie Wadecki, currently a member of the Board of Directors, will join the Compensation Committee and Chairman Barry Monheit will assume the role of Interim Audit Committee Chair until a new Chair is named.

In related news, SWHC said the Economic Assistance Coordinating Council (EACC) has approved an application from the company  for up to $6.0 million in tax credits in association with expanding its manufacturing operations in Springfield, MA. Smith & Wesson applied for the incentives to support the company's commitment to bring 225 new jobs to its Springfield headquarters and to invest significant capital into that facility over the next five years. 

 

The newly created jobs in Springfield will span a number of functions, from manufacturing operations to senior management positions.  The credits will be awarded over a period of seven years, but hiring for the new jobs will start in January 2011.