New Canaan lures new CFO away from Wilton
NEW CANAAN — The Board of Selectmen agreed Monday to hire the current chief financial officer of Wilton, Anne C. KellyLenz, as CFO for the town. She had been serving as acting CFO for both Wilton’s public schools and the town.
Kelly-Lenz will be replacing former CFO Lunda Asmani, who left to accept a role in the Norwalk Public Schools in December. Personnel Director Cheryl Pickering Jones said Kelly-Lenz, who first started in Wilton in 2015, will start her new post Jan. 18.
Her last day serving Wilton officially will be Jan. 14, “but Anne has offered to make herself available for assistance until the position is filled,” Wilton First Selectwoman Lynne Vanderslice said Monday.
New Canaan Selectman Nick Williams said it would be helpful to the town to acquire someone with the experience overseeing both a similar school district and the town, but hinted Monday that Kelly-Lenz did not wish to serve as chief financial officer for both the town and the schools in her new role. Kelly-Lenz was not immediately available for comment on Monday.
When Asmani’s departure was announced, First Selectman Kevin Moynihan had said he would have liked to combine the CFO of the town with the school district, in part to be able to keep the former director of management and budget for the city of Norwalk. Asmani also held various municipal finance positions in the towns of Maize, Sedgwick and Newton in Kansas prior to his first Norwalk stint.
Moynihan said New Canaan Schools Superintendent Bryan Luizzi had not agreed to the arrangement.
He also said that Wilton’s Vanderslice — who has continued to laud Kelly-Lenz’s contributions to the town—was disappointed that the CFO is leaving, but said he, too, was disappointed when Asmani left for his new role in Norwalk.
“Wilton has been fortunate to have had Anne Kelly-Lenz as our CFO over the last six years and particularly during the pandemic,” Wilton’s first selectwoman said Monday.
Vanderslice said the dual town and school CFO performed “two jobs during the pandemic,” her “regular job and pandemic job,” Vanderslice said. With KellyLenz already assuming the role of overseeing both the municipal and school district finances, Vanderslice said she relied on her “heavily” and “she never let me or her fellow employees down.”
One focus for the town over the past half-decade has been improving its online operability for residents looking to find resources and links to services, something Vanderslice said the CFO has played a key role in.
“Anne has been at the forefront of much of the innovation and transformation of town government that occurred during that six-year time period, including the increase in online services and her promotion to CFO for both the town and the schools,” she said. “A change that has resulted in more than $1 million in cumulative taxpayer savings and in improved departments.”
Wilton is one of the few municipalities in Connecticut with a shared CFO.
Prior to starting as CFO in Wilton in 2015, Kelly-Lenz worked in Bridgeport as finance director, tax collector and treasurer.
She holds both a bachelors degree in business administration and a masters degree in teaching from Sacred Heart University. She completed the Connecticut Tax Collectors certification and is member of the Government Finance Officers Association.
Other town officials have voiced their approval of hiring Kelly-Lenz, including Chairman of the Audit Committee Bill Parrett and Board of Finance Chairman Todd Laveri, Jones said.
“We all wish her the best in her new endeavor,” Vanderslice said.