William "Bill" Maris has been named Parker Ranch Inc. chief financial officer effective Nov. 10.

Maris , whose most recent position was CFO at Cyanotech Corp., will be responsible for directing the accounting, finance and tax compliance functions of the ranch. He also will provide strategic planning leadership for long-range goals for the ranch.

Parker Ranch is a wholly owned subsidiary of Parker Ranch Foundation Trust. It is a cattle ranch known for its quality beef, producing 10 million pounds of beef a year and ranking as the fifth largest cow-calf operation in the United States. Prior to Richard Smart's death in 1992 he put the ranch in trust to benefit four Waimea-based organizations: Hawai'i Preparatory academy, Parker School Trust Corporation, NOrth Hawai'i Community Hospital and the Richard Smart Fund of the Hawai'i Community Foundation.

The foundation has distributed nearly $15 million in cash ad land to these entities.