Evanston City Manager Wally Bobkiewicz has announced the appointment of Hitesh D. Desai as the city’s chief financial officer and city treasurer.
Desai previously held the positions of accounting manager and senior accountant at the city, having served two different stints totaling twelve years between 2000 and 2014.
For the past four years, Desai has served as finance director for the Village of Carpentersville. He’s scheduled to return to Evanston starting April 16.
“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. His former Evanston experience is an additional plus for this key position.”
In his new position, Desai will manage the finance-related divisions within the City Manager’s Office, including purchasing, accounting, procurement, budget, revenue, collections, property tax assessment, pension, employee benefits, treasury, investments and risk management, as well as other public finance activities.
While at Carpentersville, Desai was responsible for substantial savings for the Village through advanced debt refunding and increased investment income. Desai also secured $90,000 in additional annual revenue as a result of a special census. The village received Budget and Audit awards from the Government Finance Officers Association for the first time under his leadership.
Desai has a bachelor’s degree in business from Gujarat University in India. He also is a Chartered Accountant (India), Certified Public Account (USA) and a member of the Government Finance Officers Association, the Illinois Government Finance Officers Association and the Intergovernmental Personnel Benefit Cooperative (IPBC) Finance Committee.
Desai has been married to his wife, Hetal, for 26 years, and is father to a son, Kartikey, 21, and daughter, Aroma, 19.