The three members of Marion’s Select Board agreed during their special September 28 public meeting at the Town House that the Hiring Committee delivered three excellent candidates for the job of finance director to be vacated at the end of the calendar year with Judy Mooney’s retirement.
“Well, I’ve got to say we had three great candidates. I applaud the committee for bringing them to us … doesn’t always happen that way,” said Randy Parker.
What they all also agreed on was that Heather O’Brien should get the job. O’Brien came out ahead by a tenth of a point in a scoring exercise based on a rubric assigned by Town Administrator Geoff Gorman, but it was her backstory and present circumstance that convinced the members to vote unanimously to offer her the job.
Following negotiations, O’Brien accepted the job and beginning on Monday, October 16, will enter a transitional period, working alongside Mooney and learning the ropes.
The other two finalists were Jack MacDonald, vice president of Finance at Mass College of Art and Design, and Tom Valadao, audit manager at Broniec Associates. With the three finalists all coming from the corporate world (O’Brien has been a practice manager at Ernst & Young for 13 years), the Select Board knew this decision was going to be more complex.
“We had to base it on some other experiences, some other considerations, and I’d say (O’Brien) has far and away more experience. … She’s exhibited focus and … dedicated, putting herself through college (and worked) through high school. I suspect that if we chose her, she’d be around for a while,” said member Norm Hills during a brief deliberation.
Neither of the other two finalists were nominated at the September 28 meeting.
Select Board Chairman Toby Burr reviewed the video tapes of the finalists’ interviews held on September 22 and concluded that O’Brien had the most experience.
“She was the one that had … most job consistency, working for one company for many years. She showed tremendous ambition over the course of her life, to improve her knowledge and her circumstances,” said Burr.
Likewise, Parker tossed his hat into O’Brien’s ring.
“It’s a very difficult decision to make, they’re all very well matched, and I think Heather won out by … a tenth of the point. … I like them all, but I like Heather myself. … I think she stands out from the rest,” he said.
In her finalist’s interview before the Select Board on September 28, O’Brien noted her move to Marion a year and a half ago and said she sees the Marion job as an opportunity to pivot but stay in finance and be part of the community where her family now lives.
“The corporate world’s the corporate world, I have no complaints about Ernst & Young,” O’Brien told the Select Board.
While O’Brien has had employees reporting directly to her in the past, her current position is dominated by peers. She told the board she takes a team approach toward management and that “everyone knows they have a seat at the table” and likes to make her coworkers “feel like they don’t have to be afraid to speak their mind.”
Hills asked O’Brien how her corporate experience would translate to municipal government and how she intends to educate herself regarding state laws and the municipal processes.
O’Brien said she has worked with corporate leaders and partners at regional and global levels. She has directly supported executive leaders. She also pointed to her management and coaching experience. Her corporate work required accuracy and transparency.
Relative to law and process, O’Brien said she had spoken with longtime Finance Director Judy Mooney and intends to pursue her certification in Government Accounting.
“I know Judy would be a resource for approximately three months, so I would leverage her and sit next to her and absorb all her skills and knowledge that I possibly can,” O’Brien said.
In her region while working for Ernst & Young, O’Brien helped manage approximately $880,000,000 with almost $600,000 in expenses. For FY24, her team had to show 8.4% growth. While there, O’Brien also helped bridge a complex report reckoning with the different laws and practices of global and Americas.
During the interview, Parker tried to find common ground in O’Brien’s experience with emergency finance work required of the town when facing something like Marion’s recent sewer-main break. He said Mooney had done an excellent job in running a tight ship while maintaining a flexibility to address emergency situations.
O’Brien said the pandemic helped her better understand the need to back away from work and find balance.
Having been raised in Brighton (Boston), O’Brien attended Boston Latin High School and had a part-time job working at American Management Association and after spending some time as a full-time student at UMass, she was hired full time by the firm, which offered her tuition reimbursement to continue taking night courses toward her degree. She would graduate from Boston College.
Invited to ask questions of the board, O’Brien impressed the members with her prepared written questions leading to explanations of town government that could be used as a beginner’s guidebook.
After taking a unanimous vote during the follow-up meeting on Sept. 28, the board adjourned the public session and went into executive session.
Finance Director Hire
By Mick Colageo