11/15/2011 5:00:00 PMCMSD appoints Chief Financial & Administrative Officer
The Cleveland Metropolitan School District is pleased to announce the appointment of John W. Scanlan as Chief Financial & Administrative Officer effective Jan. 1, 2012. Scanlan joins CMSD after an extensive, national executive search sponsored by The Cleveland Foundation.
CMSD Chief Executive Officer, Eric Gordon, who made this hire a priority for the district, appointed Scanlan with the unanimous support of the CFO Search Advisory Team, which included prominent stakeholders in Cleveland’s civic and business communities and members of the district’s senior leadership team.
“John Scanlan is a proven and respected leader that brings a strong record of success to Cleveland,” said Gordon. “His strength in two key areas of operation will be instrumental in the realignment of CMSD’s financial and administrative practices.”
Gordon said Scanlan will head departments previously led by former Chief Financial Officer James Fortlage and former Chief Transformation Officer Renee Cavor, utilizing Scanlan’s expertise not only in addressing the district’s financial challenges, but also in implementing the district’s academic transformation goals.
Most recently, Scanlan was Deputy Superintendent of Administration in New York’s Rochester City School District. During his three years there, Scanlan led a staff of 1,500 staff in aligning all aspects of the district’s human capital, finance, and operations with a strategic plan for the academic achievement of 32,000 urban students.
“Mr. Scanlan’s work in Rochester generated improvements in staffing, school safety, transportation, and food service that reduced costs by millions of dollars,” said Gordon. “His experience closing a $79 million budget gap while improving services for students will be an asset to our district during this critical time.”
Scanlan redesigned Rochester’s budget system to create an innovative school-based, student-weighted funding strategy that matches resources with student needs and increases student equity.
Scanlan also served as Chief Operating Officer in the Oklahoma City Public School District, where he applied expert-level training in a statistics-based, change management system known as LEAN/Six-Sigma that transformed district business operations affecting 40,000 students in 81 schools.
Beyond his work in public schools, Scanlan completed 26 years of decorated service in the U.S. Navy, which he calls the “largest teaching and learning organization in the world.” Upon retiring from the military, Scanlan said he wanted to leverage his leadership skills to “eliminate the educational and economic divide faced by our nation’s children,” which Scanlan identifies as a threat to our nation’s democracy and economic growth. This sense of mission led Scanlan to win a Fellowship within the competitive Broad Superintendents Academy where he worked with leading experts in K-12 education to understand the best thinking and most effective practices in public school systems throughout the country.
Scanlan said he and his wife Amy look forward to exploring Northeast Ohio's beautiful countryside, rich heritage and Cleveland's arts, theater and sports offerings. They will relocate to Cleveland in December and are eager to become active members of the community.
Read the news release.