New Canaan Public Schools is hiring as its new director of finance and operations a woman with decades of experience in the field across multiple districts, officials said Monday.
Dr. Jo-Ann Keating, who worked most recently in Weston, will take over the role in July from Nancy Harris, who is retiring, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Bryan Luizzi said in a bulletin that also is published on the district’s website.
The search committee for Harris’s successor “found Dr. Keating’s integrity, financial and budget skills, collaborative management style, and extensive experience in school performance and operations to be particularly well suited to the Director of Finance and Operations position for the New Canaan Public Schools,” Luizzi said.
“Committee members were especially impressed by Dr. Keating’s proven ability to manage multiple complex projects simultaneously, and her depth of knowledge and experience related to all aspects of the Director of Finance and Operations role.”
Finance director in Weston since 2006, Keating had worked as business manager for Ridgefield Public Schools and Wolcott Public Schools, and from 1989 through 1993 had been CFO for the Town of Naugatuck, Luizzi said.
She holds a doctorate in educational leadership from the University of Hartford, a master’s organizational management from Central Connecticut University, and a bachelor’s in accounting from Post College. She also has earned professional certification as a Certified Administrator of School Finance and Operations in North America, Intermediate Administration and Supervision, and School Business Administrator in Connecticut, officials say.
Harris had served as finance director for the New Canaan school district on an interim basis since 2013.