"I don't know about everyone else," he said of the other executive departures.

Such haste in executive departures from large agencies is unusual.

The latest cuts add to numerous executive departures and 84 layoffs since November.

AT&T has had a number of executive departures in the 18 months since it announced a plan to split itself into three companies.

In recent years, Kraft has also been plagued by a series of executive departures.

Such statements are so routine in announcements of executive departures that their absence is noteworthy.

The December shake-up failed to satisfy everyone, and a stream of executive departures continued.

A record total of 1,478 chief executive departures were announced last year at United States-based companies, 12 percent more than in 2005.

That compared with 11 percent of executive departures in 2003 and 1.6 percent in 1996.

Ward, which is privately held, has had several high-level executive departures.