Rayonier Inc. announced that it has appointed Mark McHugh as Senior Vice President and CFO, effective 12 December 2014. McHugh succeeds H. Edwin Kiker, who is transitioning to the newly created position of Chief Accounting Officer, responsible for financial reporting, accounting operations, and implementing and ensuring proper financial controls and systems, the company said.

McHugh has 15 years of experience in finance and capital markets focusing on the timberland and REIT sectors. He joins Rayonier from Raymond James, where he served as Managing Director in the firm's Real Estate Investment Banking group and was responsible for the firm's timberland and agriculture sector coverage. Throughout his career, McHugh has provided a wide range of strategic and financial counsel to a variety of publicly traded paper, forest products and real estate companies.

"Mark has been a valued adviser to Rayonier's senior management team in the months since the spin-off of the Performance Fibers business, and we are pleased to welcome him to this new role," said David Nunes, Rayonier's President and CEO. "Mark's strategic, financial, and industry expertise served us well during our recent internal review and development of our realigned strategy. We are confident that his continued insight and guidance will further support our commitment to transparency and accountability, and that he will be an excellent addition to the senior team leading Rayonier going forward."