Williams Lake’s new chief financial officer has been on the job for a week and has been busy ever since because the position has been vacant since October.
Vitali Kozubenko, who arrived from Victoria to begin work on March 15, said he has to complete the audit for 2016 and prepare the 2017 budget.
“Some of the work has been done and departments have been working on their plans, but no one has looked at it from a senior level,” he told the Tribune Wednesday.
“In one month I have to complete six months of work. It’s a busy time.”
Originally from Russia, Kozubenko completed an MBA at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.
Afterward he returned to Russia and then moved to England for work.
In Europe he worked for a financial consultant and then an American company doing audits and controlling, he said.
He moved to B.C. in 1999 and since then has worked for ICBC as an audit department manager, for Fraser Health setting up their audit department, for the Ministry of Health as director of finances handling the medical services plan and PharmaCare and most recently for the Ministry of Technology Innovation and Citizens’ Services as executive director of finance and negotiations.
“I’m excited to be here,” he said of the move to Williams Lake. “My wife and eight-year-old-son are visiting right now for spring break and will be moving here after the school year is finished.”
Kozubenko said becoming a chief financial officer is a great opportunity.
“It was looking for an advancement,” he added.
