Acton picks new CFO following Ansaldi firing
Former Millbury Finance Director Jennifer Barrett accepted a conditional offer and is set to start today.
Acton should soon have a new finance chief.
Former Millbury Finance Director Jennifer Barrett had accepted a conditional offer and is set to start today. Town Manager Kerry Lafleur announced the selection at a special Select Board meeting on October 24.
“She is a very strong candidate,” board member Wendy Rovelli said.
Barrett attended the Select Board session and said Acton is a “larger community and moving in a more progressive direction” than Millbury.
She said she’s excited to start here.
Barrett spent two years as a finance executive at a stamp company in western Massachusetts. She then worked for nearly 15 years primarily in private and public schools. Barrett served an eight-year stint as finance director in Boxborough before taking her Millbury gig in 2021.
Acton’s chief financial officer also oversees the accounting division. The team is “undergoing a transition in both staffing and systems,” according to Lafleur. In a memo, Lafleur said Barrett’s experience in municipal accounting and financial management will be “particularly valuable.”
Officials advertised the CFO position in September after firing former officeholder Anthony Ansaldi. Assistant CFO Ryan Ferrara had been serving in an acting role since Ansaldi was placed on leave in June and took an interim title when officials finalized Ansaldi’s ouster.
Lafleur said the town got “a good number of applicants” for the high-profile job.
Rovelli, who was part of a vetting panel, described Barrett as a “great collaborator [who] takes a very thorough approach to issues.”
Select Board Chair Mark Howell thanked Lafleur for a quick recruitment process, which took place as officials started preparing the budget for the 2027 fiscal year.
Ferrara and Barrett previously crossed paths in Boxborough, where Ferrara was town administrator from 2018 to 2021. Ansaldi’s lawyer filed a whistleblower notice over the summer and alleged additional issues with Acton’s financial management in a subsequent filing.
Whistleblower law allows employees to sue in state superior court following a notice of their claim. As of late last month, court records showed Ansaldi had not filed a suit.
