Diana Ferguson, Chicago Public Schools' chief financial officer -- one of the few school executives Rahm Emanuel kept when he named the new leaders -- has resigned.CPS officials said Ferguson is planning to get married and is moving to the suburbs with her fiancé. City employees are required to live within Chicago.
Ferguson's departure will hurt CPS, which is grappling with a $720 million budget deficit and a leadership transition. Emanuel's efforts to keep her at CPS would have helped stabilize the district during the transition, especially as school officials begin deliberating the budget.
"The one thing that hurts CPS is that she's so highly qualified," says Barbara Radner, director of DePaul University's Center for Urban Education. "She's not simply someone who understands budgets, but she knows how to make good financial decisions, how to solve financial problems. Her replacement will need to be a mathematical genius, someone who can solve an unsolvable math problem—(Emanuel) doesn't have enough money but he's promised everyone he's going to fix CPS."
Before coming to CPS, Ferguson served as senior vice president and chief financial officer of the Folgers Coffee Company. She's also held positions at Merisant Worldwide and was the chief financial officer of Sara Lee.
While her last day is May 25, Ferguson plans to work on the budget with CPS at no salary until a replacement can be found, said CPS spokeswoman Becky Carroll.