Chandler's finance chief gets state award

The city of Chandler’s deputy city manager and chief financial officer, Dawn Lang, was awarded the newly created Finance Excellence Award by the Government Finance Officers Association of Arizona on Aug. 8 during GFOAz’s Summer Conference.

Chandler City Manager Josh Wright praised Lang and her department during the City Council’s Aug. 15 meeting.

“Dawn’s been a very special part of Chandler’s financial success for many years,” Wright told the council. “We are thrilled to have her receive that award from that very important group.”

A news release states the award celebrates the hard work, professionalism and excellent financial management of those working in local government in Arizona.

The release states Lang was nominated for the award for “being a passionate, ethical, driven and innovative leader in Arizona local government — and particularly local government finance — for more than 15 years.”

The GFOAz is a nonprofit professional organization that serves the government finance profession in Arizona, the release states. GFOAz promotes excellence in government financial management through leadership, education and communication.

Lang, educated in Montana, was with the city of Dubuque, Iowa in financial roles for about seven years before coming to work for Chandler in 2007. In her current role, according to the release, she has helped guide Chandler’s fiscal strength.

With Lang on board, Chandler has maintained its status as one of only three municipalities in Arizona to have a perfect general obligation bond rating and the first city in Arizona to have a perfect excise tax revenue obligation bond rating from all three major agencies.

Chandler also brags on being the largest city in Arizona to pay off its public safety pension liabilities when it made a large lump final payment in the summer of 2023.

We invite our readers to submit their civil comments on this topic.  Email AZOpinions@iniusa.org .  Contact  Jason W. Brooks at jbrooks@iniusa.org .