AOL today announced that it has appointed former Time Warner Cable Inc. executive Arthur Minson as its chief financial officer as the Internet company prepares to separate from Time Warner Inc. and tries to fix its struggling business.<br /><br />AOL said new CFO Arthur Minson, who was earlier deputy CFO at Time Warner Cable, helped manage that division's separation from Time Warner this year, New York- based AOL said today in a statement. Prior to that he had been an AOL executive handling corporate finance. Minson, 38, begins at AOL on Sept. 8, replacing Nisha Kumar, who left in the first half.<br /><br />AOL Chief Executive Tim Armstrong said in an interview that while Minson's spinoff experience with the cable unit was important it was not the main reason for the appointment.<br /><br />“Artie has strong knowledge of the Internet, distribution, AOL and spinoffs but I was looking long term for operational leadership from our CFO,” Armstrong said.<br /><br />Minson is returning to AOL, where he had been senior vice president of corporate finance and development, as the online pioneer revamps its operations under a new CEO and prepares to be a separate public company by year end.<br /><br />“A big piece of the operating company over the next few years is really about how to use our capital structure correctly and our human resources correctly,” Armstrong said in an interview today. “We needed a really good leader and operator considering the speed that we’re moving at.”<br /><br />Armstrong has gradually put a new management team in place at AOL as he prepares it for independence from Time Warner.<br /><br />“We are going to do the right things to get the company on the right track financially,” Minson said in an interview.<br /><br />Armstrong and Minson said they were not ready to announce financial plans or comment on the possibility of job cuts.<br /><br />Minson was hired by Time Warner Cable when that unit prepared for a possible initial public offering three years ago and promoted to deputy CFO in December 2007. The company was separated from the parent company this year.