DC’s CFO Dr. Natwar M. Gandhi Stepping Down after Serving Since 2000

Photo via DC.gov

From a press release:

Mayor Vincent C. Gray today thanked Chief Financial Officer Dr. Natwar M. Gandhi for his service in ensuring that the District’s finances experienced a dramatic turnaround over the last dozen years. Earlier today, Dr. Gandhi informed the Mayor that he would be stepping down after serving in the CFO position since 2000. Mayor Gray re-appointed him to a third five-year term last June.

“I want to express my profound gratitude to Dr. Gandhi for being an exemplary steward of the District’s finances for over a decade, and I am sorry to see him go,” Mayor Gray said. “In the time that he has served as our Chief Financial Officer, he has helped take us from the days of the Control Board to our just-announced $417 million Fiscal Year 2012 surplus.”

Mayor Gray continued: “I especially want to thank Dr. Gandhi for being a strong partner in helping me restore our crucial Fund Balance to $1.5 billion. Without his leadership, the District would not have experienced the extraordinary fiscal turnaround that we have seen in the last dozen years. Our city owes him a great debt of gratitude.”

Under Dr. Gandhi’s stewardship, the District has obtained a “clean” audit opinion from independent auditors in the District’s Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) every year since Fiscal Year 2000, which ended the city’s Control Period and facilitated the return of Home Rule. Under his leadership, the District has secured several rating upgrades for its general-obligation bonds from the major rating agencies, including an “A+” from Standard and Poor’s, a “AA-“ from Fitch Ratings and an “Aa2” rating from Moody’s Investors Service. The District’s Income Tax Secured bond ratings are “AAA” from S&P, “AA” from Fitch and “Aa1” from Moody’s.