NEW YORK (Bloomberg) - Marsh & McLennan Cos., the second-largest insurance broker, named Vanessa Wittman to be chief financial officer as CEO Brian Duperreault reshapes management.

Ms Wittman, most recently CFO of Adelphia Communications Corp., will join Marsh & McLennan on September 10, the New York-based broker said on Thursday in a statement. Ms Wittman, 41, will replace Matthew Bartley, whose departure was announced in June.

Mr. Duperreault, a Bermudian, hired in January, has won over investors by replacing the heads of two subsidiaries and seeking buyers for parts of the underperforming Kroll Inc. security unit. Marsh & McLennan, which trailed the 24-member KBW Insurance Index in each of the last five years, is the best performing stock in 2008.

Ms Wittman will work to "maintain Marsh & McLennan's solid financial standing and to further enhance shareholder value," Mr. Duperreault said in the statement.

Ms Wittman joined Adelphia in 2003 as the bankrupt cable-television operator was seeking to emerge from Chapter 11 reorganisation and an accounting probe. Previously, she served as finance chief of Canadian computer-networking equipment maker 360networks Corp.

Mr. Duperreault, 61, is cutting jobs at the flagship Marsh Inc. brokerage as declining insurance rates squeeze the commissions made for matching buyers and sellers. He replaced Kroll chief Simon Freakley with Ben Allen in March, and appointed Peter Zaffino in February to head the Guy Carpenter reinsurance brokerage.