When the chief financial officer position for the Hartford Public School system opened up in 2006, Paula Altieri didn’t waste time expressing interest in the job.
Almost immediately she asked for a meeting with newly installed superintendent Steven Adamowski to jockey for a position she longed for since joining the school system in 1999.
“The conversation went something like… ‘I am Paula Altieri and I’m your next CFO,’ recalls Altieri, who was Hartford Public School’s budget director at the time. “I figured he would either walk me out of his office… or give me a shot at the top job.”
Altieri’s aggression paid off. She not only got the CFO gig, but she has played a significant role helping implement the city’s aggressive school reform agenda in recent years, which has made significant strides but also faces major challenges.
As overseer of the city’s $414 million education budget, Altieri holds the purse strings to many of the school district’s important financial decisions.
“The reality is we have a long way to go to accomplish our mission,” says Altieri. “The fiscally challenging environment we continue to face requires us to be strategic and student-focused with our resources.”
Maintaining and increasing investments in students and programs that support and accelerate achievement is a challenge in a struggling economy, Altieri said.
School districts throughout Connecticut and the nation are faced with declining revenues and inadequate funding.
To that end, the Hartford Public School (HPS) system has had to find efficiencies that reduce operational expenses without shortchanging students.
Earlier this year, for example, Altieri helped renegotiate a school bus contract, which yielded about $1.3 million in savings. Similar negotiations for insurance and utility contracts resulted in $3.5 million in savings, Altieri said.
With a lengthy to-do list, a 50-hour work week is the norm for Altieri. During peak times such as budget development or year-end planning, her week can easily consume 60 hours or more.
Over the course of a three-month quarter, Altieri dedicates about 30 hours preparing and presenting financial statements and reports. She uses those facts and figures to help the school board and superintendent Christina M. Kishimoto understand the fiscal health of the district and to engage in strategic decision-making. Annually, she devotes up to 400 hours toward budget development and strategic planning exercises, and another 200 hours on fiscal year-end financial reporting, mandated by state and federal governments.
Typically, Altieri starts her days performing essential tasks like reviewing her calendar and project lists, setting priorities, reading and responding to e-mails or requests for information, and approving financial transactions and contracts. In addition to attending a slew of meetings, Altieri works with her team, or by herself, on projects, presentations, and reports of strategic importance, performing research work, visiting schools or other stakeholder groups, and providing guidance or interpretation on financial matters.
At any given time, Altieri and her team are hard at work juggling multiple projects in the finance division, as well as across the organization.
“We just finished all the mandatory state and federal year-end reporting and will be gearing up for the commencement of the external audit,” Altieri said. “We are in the planning stages of our health and wellness initiative as means of further containing the rising costs of healthcare and allowing us to drive more resources into the schools and classrooms.”
Other current efforts include work on an enhanced user-friendly financial management-reporting platform that will allow school administrators to access more detailed financial data and metrics for data mining purposes.
Altieri just finished working with a cross-departmental team on a competitive grant opportunity called Race to the Top. If awarded, the grant would provide up to $25 million in funding to support and accelerate HPS’ reform agenda.
As CFO, Altieri works to ensure the deployment of resources reflects the district’s values and priorities.
“I’ve had to learn how to navigate the ups and downs of public funding; learning how to measure success in an organization that values mission over the financial bottom line,” she says.
According to Altieri, the CFO needs to be the conscience of the organization; the truth teller to the superintendent combining responsibility to the mission while having the courage to stand for what is right.
Jennifer Allen, chief talent officer for the Hartford Public School system, has known Altieri for five years and says she has been struck by the CFO’s competence in a variety of areas, including her ability to answer extremely detailed questions about the district’s complex budget.
“Under Paula’s leadership, I have seen the budget development process grow in its transparency,” Allen said. “Each year the budget book becomes more user friendly and informative to the staff and public.
“Paula’s passion is evident in that she consistently represents a voice for addressing budget inequities within the district to assure equal access for all students through the evolution of student based budgeting. She is able to balance operational, educational, and financial matters in her contributions to the work.”
Private (100+ employees): David Christie, COCC
Public: Christopher Swift, The Hartford
Private (under 100 employees): John Tinnirella, First National Bank of Suffield
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