‘Fresh perspective’ sought on Sprint board

Michael M. Sears, chief financial officer of Boeing Co., has been appointed to Sprint Corp.’s board of directors, the telecommunications giant announced Monday.

Sears will join the board immediately as an independent director.

Gary Forsee, Sprint’s chief executive officer, said Sears would bring “a fresh perspective” to the board.

As part of a settlement with shareholders in two class-action lawsuits tied to Sprint’s failed merger with WorldCom Inc., the Overland Park-based company agreed to bolster the number of independent directors on its board.

Banking: Mortgage help available for state tornado victims

Kansas homeowners who suffered damage as the result of recent tornados may be allowed to delay their mortgage payments.

Officials with Fannie Mae, the country’s largest source of home financing, are instructing banks the agency works with in Kansas to give homeowners affected by recent storms new options for paying their mortgage.

The options include delaying payments for three months, reducing payments for 18 months or increasing the length of the loan, which would reduce monthly payments. People interested in finding out if they qualify can call Fannie Mae’s Consumer Resource Center at (800) 732-6643.

Investigation: Former analyst indicted

A former technology banker who became an industry star during the dot-com boom was indicted Monday on charges that he directed employees to destroy documents sought by investigators.

Frank Quattrone, 47, who was highly influential at Credit Suisse First Boston during the late 1990s, is accused of approving a December 2000 e-mail that urged CSFB workers to “catch up on file cleaning” for the holidays.

Leadership: CEOs fired at faster rate

Chief executives were forced out of their jobs last year at record levels, according to a survey of leadership turnover released Monday.

Management and technology consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton’s survey of the world’s 2,500 largest publicly traded companies found that 253 CEOs left their positions last year — a 10 percent rise over 2001. Of those, nearly 100 were forced out of their jobs because of poor performance — a 70 percent increase over the number fired in 2001.