Mayor-elect Michael Hancock on Thursday officially announced that former state Treasurer Cary Kennedy will become his administration’s chief financial officer.
“It’s a tremendous opportunity to serve a mayor who is committed to prudent financial management for the city and the city’s residents,” said Kennedy, who during the mayoral election was a staunch supporter of Hancock’s opponent Chris Romer.
Kennedy said that her No. 1 priority is to assist Hancock in delivering a balanced budget to City Council within the 60-day time frame the mayor is given after Monday’s inauguration day.
“Cary brings deep financial expertise, including keeping the state’s assets safe in going through the great recession,” said Hancock, at a morning press conference in the foyer of the Wellington E. Webb building. “We’ve taken a big step in putting together a highly effective team in steering the city’s financial operations.”
Hancock also announced that current CFO Ed Scholz would remain on as deputy CFO.
Scholz has been the city’s budget officer and was appointed as CFO by Mayor Guillermo “Bill” Vidal in March to replace Claude Pumilia, who had held the position for four years.
The two will help Hancock implement a new initiative the mayor is putting in place called Peak Performance, which is aimed at providing city managers the opportunity to deliver high quality services at low costs using real-time data and data driven decision making.
Prior to Thursday morning, Hancock’s transition team had made only two major position announcements so far — Janice Sinden as chief of staff and Wil Alston as communications director.
When asked why it has taken so long to make appointments, Hancock said that hiring people is not an “exact science” and that he wants to take time to meet with candidates and voice his concerns and hear them out before arriving at the best decision.
“Someone put it in perspective for me that you cannot build a billion dollar corporation in 40 days,” said Hancock. “And that’s what we’re doing, building a billion dollar corporation. It’s best for us to take our time and get it right.”
Kurtis Lee: 303-954-1655 or klee@denverpost.com
