Chief Financial Officer

Rick Grimaldi has become a partner at Fisher & Phillips L.L.P. , a Philadelphia labor and employment firm. He had been the founding managing partner of the Philadelphia office of Jackson Lewis L.L.P. Philadelphia Insurance Cos., a property/casualty and professional-liability insurance company for niche markets, named Robert D. O'Leary Jr. president and chief executive officer. He had been executive vice president and chief marketing officer. Savran Benson L.L.P ., Bala Cynwyd, has hired Michael Bonner as a senior associate.

In the business world, chief executive officers soak up all the attention, especially when change is in the air. The announcement of new CEOs for CubeSmart of Wayne and Endo Health Solutions Inc. of Malvern within the last week were significant for each company. Endo shares rose 8 percent the day it announced it had hired Rajiv De Silva from outside the drug company and investors anticipated big changes would be made. Meanwhile, CubeSmart shares slid 2 percent as the long-telegraphed transition to a successor chosen from inside its ranks seemed to signal that the self-storage company would stay the course.

Securities trades recently reported to the Securities and Exchange Commission by officers, directors and principal shareholders of corporations based or having sizable employment in the Philadelphia area. Titles are as reported to the SEC. Airgas Inc. Max D. Hooper , officer, sold 55,625 shares at $ 97.80 to 98.08 on Feb. 13 to Feb. 14, and now directly holds 23,925 shares. Brandywine Realty Trust Anthony A. Nichols Sr. , director, sold 10,000 shares at $13.36 on Feb. 14, and now directly holds 102,849 shares.

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Postal Service lost $1.3 billion in the final three months of last year, despite a blizzard of campaign advertising for the fall political elections and a big holiday mail and shipping season. The loss announced Friday was far less than the $3.3 billion in the comparable quarter the previous fiscal year, but still showed the effects of a continued decline in first-class mailing as customers continue to flock to the Internet for e-mailing, bill paying and the like.

The painful $600,000 budget shortfall facing East Greenwich Township is hardly unique. Municipalities across New Jersey are grappling with dwindling support from the state and other dried-up sources of revenue. But the budget crisis in the small Gloucester County town has become distinct for the intensely personal turn it has taken. The spark was set by the controversial layoffs of a part-time police officer and a part-time civilian employee this month that critics said were surreptitiously engineered by the mayor.