Lowery adds 3 to state treasurer team
Chief financial officer, communications director, executive assistant named
State Treasurer-elect Mark Lowery on Wednesday announced that departing Faulkner County Circuit Clerk Crystal Taylor will serve as chief financial officer in the state treasurer’s office, starting Jan. 10.
Taylor has served as circuit clerk since 2017, after ousting the Democratic incumbent Rhonda Wharton for the post in the 2016 general election. Taylor lost in the May 24 Republican primary to Faulkner County Judgeelect Allen Dodson, Lowery said in a news release.
Lowery, a Republican state representative from Maumelle, said Taylor was able to reduce staffing costs in Faulkner County by 25% through attrition and managed to turn back more than $2.2 million to Faulkner County in six years. Last week, Lowery said his goal is to eliminate five positions in the state treasure’s office that has 35 positions.
The state treasurer is responsible for an investment portfolio of about $9 billion in the state treasury and serves on the Arkansas Teacher Retirement System and Arkansas Public Employees Retirement System’s board of trustees. The treasurer also is charged with managing the Arkansas 529 Education Savings Plan and the Achieving a Better Life Experience program and serves as chairman of the Arkansas Financial Education Commission, according to the office’s website.
Lowery also announced that Heather McKim will serve as director of communications in the treasurer’s office after serving as the chief operating officer for Attorney General Leslie Rutledge.
She is a former Bryant city clerk and finance director of the Republican Party of Arkansas. She also has served as director of the state Board of Election Commissioners, as a management analyst in the office of Lt. Gov. Win Rockefeller, and as an administrative specialist for Arkansas Legislative Audit.
Lowery said Melissa Vance will serve as executive assistant in the state treasurer’s office, after serving for more than two years in a similar role for state Insurance Commissioner Alan McClain and Deputy Insurance Commissioner Russ Galbraith. Vance also served as a legal support specialist in the legal counsel office of the state Department of Finance and Administration.
“We continue to be fortunate in the quality of new hires that will be joining my administration in January,” Lowery said in his news release. “In combination with our previously announced executive team and an excellent team being retained, I have no doubt of the professionalism we will bring to the people of Arkansas.”
He announced Friday that Eric Munson, a former state securities commissioner and senior vice president of the Arkansas Bankers Association, will be appointed as chief deputy in the state treasurer’s office. Munson also is a former director of the Arkansas Governor’s Council on Developmental Disabilities.
Lowery also said Friday that key employees in the treasurer’s office who are being retained include Robert Romanik and Stephen Pulley as senior investment managers, Autumn Sanson as chief compliance officer for the treasury and state Board of Finance, and Director of Investment Accounting Steven Kilgore, who will work with Holly Beaver in a newly created internal investment audit function.
Lowery said Wednesday his transition team will continue to interview individuals for other key positions and plans on having all staffing decisions and offers made by Jan. 1.
Lowery will be sworn in as state treasurer Jan. 10, succeeding term-limited state Treasurer Dennis Milligan, a Republican from Benton.
Milligan will be sworn in as state auditor Jan. 10, succeeding term-limited state Auditor Andrea Lea, a Republican from Russellville.
Lowery has filed for personal bankruptcy twice, once in 1998 and again in 2017, federal records show. He has been in the process of resolving about $68,000 worth of debts, according to a payment plan adopted in 2019.
Prior to his election as state treasurer in the Nov. 8 general election, Lowery said he should not be knocked for exercising a constitutional right to declare bankruptcy and, like many Arkansans, he knows what it’s like to struggle financially.
Milligan endorsed Lowery’s opponent in the May 24 primary — state Sen. Mat Pitsch, R-Fort Smith — and raised concerns about Lowery’s financial history.
After Lowery won the Republican nomination for state treasurer, Milligan said he supported Lowery in the Nov. 8 general election, which Lowery won handily.