Granato Named New Finance Director
By Robin Vinci | Editor at January 14, 2024 | 6:30 pm | Print
First Woman To Permanently Head City’s Finance Department
The Common Council voted Lori A. Granato as the city’s new director of finance at its Wednesday night’s meeting.
“I’m very excited and I look forward to the great success we will have with Miss Granato as our finance director,” said Alderman Jamie Giantonio.
“I have heard much about her resume and I think she will be the one that comes in and takes numbers and asks questions later. She is a take charge kind of individual,” said Alderman Carlo Carlozzi. “With her qualifications and background I am expecting some great things.”
Mayor Erin E. Stewart, said Granato is an individual with more than two decades of municipal finance experience.
“Lori brings a significant amount of state and municipal financial knowledge to New Britain,” said Stewart. “I know she will provide strong leadership and oversight to our Finance Department and continue to put our city on a path to a better financial future.”
In her over 20 years of work in the finance world, one of her most notable accomplishments was her appointment by former Governor Lowell P. Weicker Jr. to head a special state panel that was responsible for improving the fiscal integrity of West Haven during the early 1990s when it was filing for bankruptcy and close to defaulting on its debts. During that time, she implemented budgetary controls that helped the city erase an $18 million deficit in one year, developed fiscal policies for the city, and made other structural changes that benefited other communities.
Her other experience includes the position of Senior Vice President at First Southwest Company, which allowed her to work with many of the state’s cities and towns with their financing and investment needs. Throughout her time with the company, she oversaw over $1 billion in tax-exempt and taxable financings. Granato was also a Vice President at FGIC Advisor’s Inc.; a project manager at the state’s Office of Policy and Management; and an investment banker at Hartford’s Fleet/Norstar Securities.
She was most recently the Director of External Affairs for Connecticut Innovations, Inc., which was previously known as the Connecticut Development Authority.
Granato, who has a bachelor’s degree in finance management from Central Connecticut State University, will begin her new position on Monday, Jan. 25th.
Stewart conducted second interviews for the position last week as Becky Salerni had been acting director and Chris Wolfe was in charge.
“When I first took office I said I needed a finance director. I found Chris Wolfe because I needed someone with experience to handle the monumental deficiencies we had in our finance department,” said Stewart. “Unfortunately, he fell ill and it was right after the election that he could not work. I knew that time was going to come and we will support him, but I had to find someone on a permanent basis for that office.”
The City posted the job, but only received a handful of applications.
“For certain positions people have to live in town. For something as detailed as a municipal finance director it is not like we have a lot of people to pick from,” said Stewart. “A lot of people who wanted to apply may have roots or families in other towns.”
So Stewart asked the Council to waive that requirement and received more candidates.
“We need someone who is going to be top of the line, has the most experience and is going to be the best for the job,” said Stewart. “If you live in town it is a great bonus, but I want someone that is a true finance professional and that I trust managing our money. It is one of most important jobs in the city.”
Democrat Manny Sanchez did have issue with waiving the residency requirement of having the finance director live in New Britain, but it passed Wednesday night14-1.
“At a future date if we want to look at that further we certainly could,” said Giantonio. “We will not cut off our nose to spite our face. We found a great candidate.”
