Hardware and Lumber's (H&L) chief financial officer, Jacqueline Johnson, has resigned, after approximately 18 months in office.

Johnson's resignation takes effect January 17, but she has already left, the company said Tuesday.

Direct contact with Johnson was unsuccessful but according to Anthony Holness, chief executive officer of H&L, she resigned to pursue personal endeavours.

"Coming from an auditing background, she has played a major role in setting up policies and procedures, enhancing the whole internal control mechanism," he said.

H&L is a GraceKennedy subsidiary and operator of the Rapid TrueValue chain of hardware stores. The company is valued at $3.3 billion in total assets on its balance sheet.

Prior to her 18 months with H&L, Johnson worked for 12 years with GraceKennedy where she was the chief internal auditor.

She also worked at one time with the auditing firm PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Holness has temporarily taken charge of the company's finances. He says a permanent replacement will be named internally by January 5.

sabrina.gordon@gleanerjm.com