Norwalk Appoints New Chief Financial Officer

NORWALK, CT — Mayor Harry Rilling announced Tuesday night Jared Schmitt has been appointed as the city's new chief financial officer.

According to a news release provided by the city, Schmitt will start his position April 2, filling a vacancy left by Henry Dachowitz, who departed as CFO in December 2023.

"We are excited to welcome Jared Schmitt as our new CFO," Rilling said in a news release. "Schmitt brings a wealth of public financial management experience to the city of Norwalk from the state and local levels and is very knowledgeable about municipal bond sales, capital planning, budget management, risk management and more. Most recently, he served as CFO for the town of Fairfield, and I look forward to having him on our team and know that the city will benefit from all the expertise he brings."

According to Rilling, Schmitt brings over 16 years of public sector financial management experience to the city of Norwalk.

"I am honored to be selected as the next CFO for the city of Norwalk," Schmitt said in a news release. "I look forward to working with Mayor Rilling and his team and am excited to continue Norwalk's tradition of strong financial management."

Beginning in 2020, Schmitt served as chief fiscal officer for the town of Fairfield, where he oversaw and managed a $350 million budget for the municipality. In this role, he also managed the municipality's annual bond sale and supervised the Finance, IT, Assessor, Tax Collector and Purchasing departments.

As CFO, he expanded grant-writing opportunities, helping to bring in approximately $12 million to Fairfield and implemented a new capital planning process to help improve transparency and support the implementation of additional capital projects, Rilling said.

Prior to being CFO for the town of Fairfield, Schmitt worked in the CT General Assembly as Director of Caucus Research. In this capacity, he served as director of state budget analysis for a legislative caucus and was involved in state budget negotiations and analyzing the allocation and distribution of municipal grants.

Prior to this position, he served as the Affordable Housing Development Specialist for Mutual Housing Association of South Central CT, where he worked closely with economic development directors, CEOs and stakeholders on analyzing housing development viability, Rilling said.

Schmitt also served in the U.S. Army, where he graduated from their Defense Language Institute and enlisted as a Voice Interceptor, Spanish Linguist.

Schmitt lives in Orange with his family. In his free time, he enjoys woodworking and golf.