THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, September 7, 1994 TAG: 9409070468
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TONI WHITT, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines
An employee with the city's school system is moving over to executive offices at City Hall in hopes of putting Portsmouth on sound financial footing.
Johnna R. Whitaker, assistant director of business affairs for the city's School Board and a former certified public accountant with the accounting firm KPMG Peat Marwick, will be expected to expand the city's coffers as its new chief financial officer.
``I don't know that I can work miracles, but I feel like I've made a lot of strides at the School Board,'' Whitaker said. ``I'm a hard worker. I like a challenge, and I'm ready for it.''
Whitaker, who will earn $63,627 in her new position, will be expected to assess certain projects for risks and potential payoffs, as well as find ways to build Portsmouth's financial reserves without raising taxes. She will begin her new job in two weeks.
The new position is part of City Manager V. Wayne Orton's reorganization in the wake of June layoffs at City Hall. In announcing the new position, Orton said: ``We have worked hard to address our fiscal challenges. I felt we needed greater leadership and financial ability than we have now.''
Portsmouth is poor and hemmed in. It has stalled property values, expensive building needs and a shrinking retail base. Orton said Tuesday that he feels fortunate to have gotten Whitaker because she is familiar with the city's financial system.
Before going to work for the School Board two years ago, Whitaker was an accountant at Peat Marwick for five years. One of her responsibilities there was to direct audits of the city's financial records.
In her present job, Whitaker manages and supervises the school system's accounting department, helps put together the School Board's $100 million budget and coordinates banking and investment services. She also has installed accounting software for each of the city's schools.
Whitaker, 31, earned a bachelor's degree in business and accounting from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
The new finance chief said her first tasks will be getting a handle on the finances now and projecting where they will be on June 30, the end of the fiscal year.
She said she will also ``realign duties and responsibilities in the finance department to make sure talents are being taken advantage of.''
``I think I have my work cut out for me,'' she said. ``I will have to take it a day at a time and try to deal with some of the challenges the city is facing.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
JIM WALKER/Staff
Johnna R. Whitaker
Graphic
JOHNNA R. WHITAKER
Position: Chief financial officer, city of Portsmouth
Age: 31
Experience: Assistant director of business affairs, Portsmouth
School Board: Responsible for accounting, budgeting and financial
information systems.
Senior internal auditor, Sara Lee Knit Products, Winston-Salem,
N.C.
Audit manager, KPMG Peat Marwick, Norfolk: Responsible for
planning, administering and supervising financial audits.
Governmental audits represented 40 percent of work.
Education: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,
bachelor's degree in business administration and accounting.
by CNB