Anchorage chief fiscal officer Lucinda Mahoney is leaving her position, and a former city chief fiscal officer is taking her place.
Mayor Dan Sullivan announced Mahoney's departure late last month. Kate Giard, who served as chief fiscal officer during the administration of Mayor George Wuerch, is stepping up to fill the post in the interim.
"Lucinda has been an integral part of this administration and the Municipality has been very fortunate to have her expertise," Sullivan said in a statement released by his office.
In an interview, Mahoney said she is leaving to pursue entrepreneurial projects in Alaska, which she said are mostly oil- and gas-related.
Of her tenure as the city's chief fiscal administrator, Mahoney pointed to the municipality's elevation to a triple-A credit rating by Standard & Poor's in 2013 as a particularly proud achievement.
Her departure comes, however, before the completion of a major software project to automate many functions of city government and business processes. The launch of the software, called SAP, is running more than two years behind schedule and is now set to launch in two separate phases in 2015.
Mahoney, who played a key role in spearheading the project, said it is now "on track and in good hands." She also said she frequently reflects on how the project unfolded.
"In looking back at the decisions that I made, based on the data that I had at the time, you know, it would have been difficult to make a different decision," Mahoney said.
Mahoney's last day is Sept. 12. She was appointed to the position by Sullivan in 2009.
Giard served as chief fiscal officer from 2000 to 2003. She left the position when she was appointed to the Alaska Regulatory Commission, where she was re-appointed in 2007. Giard left the commission in 2013 to work for the private sector.
Giard's "previous service as CFO and her career experiences will serve the municipality well," Sullivan said in the statement.