Mazda’s Chief Financial Officer to Step Down

Mazda Motor Corp. said its chief financial officer, Gary Hexter, one of the architects of the Japanese auto maker’s financial rebound, is resigning effective June 22. The resignation comes as Mazda reported a 32% drop in profit for the fiscal year ended March 31. Hexter, 55, was one of a group of Ford Motor Co. executives sent to Mazda six years ago to help it reverse its falling sales and rising debt. Ford owns 33.4% of the Japanese auto maker. Mazda named Robert Shanks, managing director of corporate and cost planning, to replace Hexter. A Mazda spokesman said that Ford had recalled Hexter, but declined additional comment. Separately, Mazda and Ford said they are laying off 945 employees, or a third of the work force, at their joint-venture plant in Flat Rock, Mich., citing slow sales of the Mercury Cougars and Mazda 626s the plant makes.