First American Financial, a Santa Ana, Calif.-based provider of title insurance and real estate settlement services with $4 billion in 2009 revenue, named Max Valdes CFO. He succeeds Anthony "Buddy" Piszel, who exited the company in June when it spun off Corelogic. Valdes, 55, senior vice president of finance and chief accounting officer since 2006, joined the company in 1988 after working at Pricewaterhouse-Coopers. Separately, Mark Seaton, 33, was appointed senior vice president of finance.