Board Approves New Chief Financial Officer

A Northern California school official and MBA, Ronald D. Little II, is the new Chief Financial Officer of the San Diego Unified School District.

His appointment was approved at the Tuesday, Aug. 31, Board of Education meeting, after being submitted by Supt. Bill Kowba.

"We're excited to have someone of Ron's background join us at San Diego Unified," said Supt. Kowba. "His appointment completes our senior management team."

For the last three years, Little has been associate superintendent of business services for the 9,500 student South San Francisco Unified School District. Previously, Little served for nearly three years as Chief Business official for 3,000-student San Carlos School District.

Little brings a varied background to his new leadership position with San Diego Unified. He also worked in city finance before moving to the public education sector. He began his career working for cities in the San Francisco Bay Area, including Palo Alto, Burlingame and San Anselmo, where he served as Director of Recreation for 2004.

San Diego Unified School District’s new CFO holds a master’s of business administration from the University of San Francisco, with a concentration in finance. He is a graduate of University of California-Irvine, where he received his degree in English literature before earning advanced degrees and professional certifications in finance, from the University of Southern California and the California Association of School Business Officials.

In the Bay Area, Little oversees a general fund operational budget of $75 million. His improvement in financial oversight resulted in significant cost savings, smooth external audits and an upgrade in bond ratings. He also has experience in community outreach, serving on multiple committees collaborating with area schools and institutions. In the San Carlos district, he led the effort to pass a $40 million school bond in 2005.

He looks forward to working with the district and the community to surmount the challenges facing the district during the state budget crisis.

"Community outreach is an important tool to educate the public about the need for significant revisions to the current state funding model," said Little. "We need to work together for the sake of our students today and California’s future."
Little is scheduled to start Oct. 4.