Evanston Appoints Its Former Senior Accountant As New CFO

EVANSTON, IL — The city's new financial chief will be a familiar figure at City Hall. Hitesh Desai, who has already spent a dozen years working on Evanston's books will succeed Marty Lyons as the city's chief financial officer and city treasurer, City Manager Wally Bobkiewicz announced Thursday.

"I'm so pleased to welcome Mr. Desai back to Evanston,” said Bobkiewicz. “Our community is fortunate to have such an experienced local government finance professional serve as our chief financial officer."

Desai was previously accounting manager and senior accountant for the city of Evanston during two periods between 200 and 2014, when he he left to become the Village of Carpentersville's finance director.

"His former Evanston experience is an additional plus for this key position," Bobkiewicz said.

Desai's first day back working for the city of Evanston will be April 16. As CFO and treasurer, he'll report to Bobkiewicz and manage the finance-related operations of the city manager's office.

That includes purchasing, accounting, procurement, budget, revenue, collections, property tax assessment, pension, employee benefits, treasury, investments and risk management, as well as other public finance activities.

Desai saved Carpentersville substantial amounts of money through advanced debt refunding and increased investment income during his four years as finance director, according to a release. As a result of a special census, he secured $90,000 in additional annual revenue.

Under his leadership, the village was awarded for its budget and auditing from the Government Finance Officers Association for the first time.

Desai is a chartered accountant in India, a certified public accountant in the US, and a member of the Government Finance Officers Association, the Illinois Government Finance Officers Association and the Institute of Professional Bookkeepers Finance Committee, according to the release.

Desai and his wife of 26 years have a 21-year-old son and a 19-year-old daughter.