CMS Energy Corp. said Monday that Thomas J. Webb, former CFO for Kellogg Co., will replace CFO Alan M Wright, who has been with the company since 1991. At the same time CMS announced a definitive agreement to sell almost all of its remaining oil and gas reserves in the Permian Basin of West Texas, as well as assets in Africa and South America, to privately held Perenco SA and its affiliated companies, which are based in France.

Wright will leave Aug. 16 to work “outside the energy industry.” He had been named CFO and chief administrative officer in December 2000. Before Kellogg, Webb, 49, had been CFO for Visteon from 1996 to 1999. He began his career at Ford Motor Co. in 1977. Kenneth Whipple, who replaced McCormick as CEO and chairman, was a long-time Ford executive, and had been president of Ford Financial Services when he retired in 1999.

The Dearborn, MI-based company first announced it would sell off the assets of CMS Oil and Gas Co. and exit the exploration and production business in May (see NGI, June 3). Besides its E&P assets, CMS also has other properties it plans to sell before the end of the year, including subsidiary Consumer Energy’s electric transmission system, worth an estimated $290 million, as well as some generation and distribution assets for an additional $588 million.

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