Chairman

McCormick & Co. announced yesterday that President and Chief Operating Officer Robert J. Lawless will take over as chief executive officer Jan. 1.The move will allow Charles P. "Buzz" McCormick Jr., who returned from retirement this year to lead the Sparks spice giant through its toughest challenges, to relinquish day-to-day duties and return to his Florida retirement residence. He will remain as chairman.McCormick, the grand-nephew of the company's founder, said the company's future was secure enough to permit the change.

Conrail elects LeVan as CEOConrail Inc. elected President David M. LeVan as its chief executive officer, completing a management succession plan begun in September.Mr. LeVan, 49, fills the post left by James A. Hagen, who will retire as chief executive but remain chairman. Mr. Hagen, 62, has held the two positions since 1989 and has no specific plans to leave the chairman's seat, a spokesman said.Mr. LeVan joined the company in 1978 as assistant controller and has since held various positions with the Philadelphia-based rail company.

Herbert W. "Bill" Acker, a retired Price Waterhouse Coopers LLD regional managing partner, died Friday of kidney cancer at his Stone House Farm in Churchville. He was 70. Herbert William Acker — who was known as H. William "Bill" Acker — was the son of a Ford-New Holland worker and a postmistress. He was born and raised in Intercourse, Pa., where he graduated from Pequea High School. After earning a bachelor's degree in 1963 in accounting from Lebanon Valley College, he began his accounting career at Price Waterhouse in New York City.

T. Rowe Price Group Inc. Chairman George A. Roche has announced his retirement after a 40-year career that paralleled the rise of mutual funds -- from working closely with the founder as a crack research analyst, to orchestrating the company's debut on the stock market, to steering it through industry scandals and an expansion overseas. Roche, 64, plans to stay on until the end of the year, when James A.C. Kennedy will take over from him as president and chief executive officer, and Brian C. Rogers will become board chairman.

More than 900 members of Baltimore's business community turned out last night at the Stouffer Renaissance Harborplace Hotel to dine, schmooze and celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Greater Baltimore Committee, a force in shaping the region's economic future.It was also an affair to tout the nonprofit business association's accomplishments and to exhort its members to do better."The GBC cannot do it alone," said Chairman William L. Jews, president and chief executive of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Maryland.

Suddenly, in Britain, of attenuated interest, the Queen's English Society. The organization of crotchet collectors was forty. After the failure of the society's much-ridiculed project for an Academy of English , will waned quickly. The Independent reports that at the society's annual meeting, with an attendance of twenty-two, its chairman, Rhea Williams, announced, "Despite the sending out of a request for nominations for chairman, vice-chairman, administrator, web master, and membership secretary no one came forward to fill any role.

Lawrence A. Bossidy, chairman and chief executive officer of AlliedSignal Inc., has been named business leader of the year by the Sellinger School of Business at Loyola College in Maryland.Mr. Bossidy, 60, became CEO of the Fortune 500 diversified company in July 1991 and then chairman in January 1992. Before coming to Allied, he worked for General Electric Co. for 34 years, rising to the position of vice chairman and executive officer.While he has been head of AlliedSignal, the company has doubled its earnings and stock price.

Starbucks Corp. Shares gained $1.48 to $19.86 after the world's largest chain of coffee shops ousted Chief Executive Officer James Donald and replaced him with former CEO and Chairman Howard Schultz.

Five years ago, Indra Nooyi audaciously proposed that PepsiCo Inc., best known for Pepsi-Cola and Mountain Dew, become less reliant on its carbonated beverages by acquiring Quaker Foods Inc. That idea was quickly trumped by Coca-Cola Co., which offered $2 billion more than Pepsi to buy Quaker. Coke executives figured that Quaker's Gatorade sports drink was worth the price. But Coke's board, led by investor Warren E. Buffet, killed the deal. Pepsi, and Nooyi, refused to match the higher bid and still landed Quaker.

ATLANTA -- Coca-Cola Co. said yesterday that Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Douglas Ivester will step down in April, after a 2 1/2-year tenure stained by slow sales worldwide, a contaminated-drinks scandal in Europe and a lagging stock price.Ivester, 52, will be succeeded by Douglas Daft, a 30-year company veteran. The 56-year-old Daft was named president and chief operating officer yesterday and will assume Ivester's posts.Ivester had been chairman and CEO since October 1997. He was hand-picked by mentor Roberto Goizueta, who in 16 years boosted Coca-Cola's market value 30-fold to more than $150 billion.