(Washington, DC) District of Columbia Chief Financial Officer Natwar M. Gandhi announced today that Mr. Bert Molina will become Deputy Chief Financial Officer for Budget and Planning effective immediately. As head of the Office of Budget and Planning, Molina's responsibility will include preparing, analyzing and executing the District's budget, including operating, capital, and enterprise funds, to ensure the fiscal integrity of the District of Columbia.

"The promotion of Mr. Molina is welcome news," said Mayor Anthony A. Williams. "His experience and expertise in finance and accounting will be invaluable to the District as we face a challenging period of economic recovery."

Molina, a certified public accountant with more than 25 years of finance, accounting and technology experience in the public and private sectors, was instrumental in successfully completing the District's Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports for Fiscal Years 1999 and 2000, which earned clean audit opinions from independent auditors. This led to the end of the control board period and the return to home rule, where the District's elected leaders have full authority to govern. Since late July, Molina has been Chief Financial Officer for DC Public Schools, where, in early September, he uncovered a budget deficit in Fiscal Year 2001 of $80 million and took immediate actions to remedy the situation.

"I look forward to working with Mr. Molina in his new capacity as budget director," said Dr. Gandhi. "Mr. Molina has had a distinguished career. I am confident that Mr. Molina's assessment of the deficit problems at DC Public Schools in Fiscal Year 2001 will ultimately prevail when the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report is issued early next year."

Prior to joining the District government, Molina's career highlights include serving as chief financial officer for Milwaukee Public Schools, director of General Accounting for the city of Houston, senior financial manager for the Texas Lottery Commission, and senior chief accountant for the Texas Rehabilitation Commission.

Mathew Aloth will become acting Chief Financial Officer for DC Public Schools. Aloth, who came to the District government in August as Deputy Chief Financial Officer for DC Public Schools, is a certified public accountant with more than 23 years of experience with Baltimore City Schools, most recently as their director of Finance and Accounting. Baltimore City Schools has a budget of $900 million and a student population of 90,000.