Securities commissioner resigns

Aaron Jack has resigned as Kansas securities commissioner, effective immediately, according to a statement from the governor’s office.

Jack said he “greatly appreciated the chance to serve on behalf of my fellow Kansans, but I have opportunities in the private sector that I intend to pursue.”

Jack was in the Kansas Legislature from 2009 to 2011 and was the president of Heritage Consulting, based in Wichita.

Gov. Sam Brownback has appointed Josh Ney, a staff attorney at the commission since 2011, as interim commissioner.

Avon rising

Avon Products, which owns Lenexa-based Silpada Designs, reported fourth-quarter adjusted profit that topped analysts’ estimates.

Excluding items such as restructuring charges and asset writedowns, profit was 37 cents a share, the New York company said.

Avon is in the process of cutting 1,500 jobs and leaving the South Korea and Vietnam markets as part of a plan to save $400 million by the end of 2015.

The net loss widened to $162.2 million, or 37 cents a share, from $400,000.

Fewer hospital infections

U.S. hospitals reduced some types of deadly and costly infections in 2011, three years after a government initiative to cut hospital-acquired illnesses.

Infections stemming from catheters placed in a large vein in the neck, chest or groin to give medication or collect blood declined 41 percent from 2008, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. Infections after surgery decreased 17 percent since 2008.