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John Leary
Candidate for Board of Finance
Current Chairman - Board of Finance “Ensuring the Board of Finance remains the trusted voice of fiscal responsibility while meeting the needs of the community“
I was elected to the Southington Board of Finance since 2009 and have served as Board Chairman for several terms. My vision is to direct the board to provide financial governance through collaboration across other town boards and departments. I strive to ensure both the financials and the decision-making processes are collaborative, comprehensive, and transparent. I advocate for spending that is based on need, intelligently prioritized, and in the best interest of the community while being respectful to the taxpayers. I favor the noble side of politics that includes healthy collaboration and directing government to best serve the people. I have a strong disdain for the negative side of politics and guard against it in all that I do. In providing oversight to the town finances, I seek to position the town for the long term. Therefore, working to ensure balance in the tax base, balancing residential, commercial, industrial, senior, and open space land uses. To me it’s important to ensure infrastructure including roads, bridges, and buildings are well maintained as a priority. Funding a healthy school system, effective public services, and programs for all residents is important to me. These all sound good but delivering them requires active management of the grand list, the taxes, driving efficient programs, creativity, prioritization, a long-range plan, challenging conversations, and saying no and yes when appropriate. When I look back, I am proud of the work we have done as a Board of Finance and look forward to gaining the trust and confidence of the voters, all voters, to be re-elected in November. I am Roman Catholic and an Eagle Scout. I take great pride in striving to live my life in accordance with my faith and by the Scout Oath and Law. I graduated from college with degrees in Management, Marketing, a Master’s degree in Professional Accounting and continue to pursue advanced education in leadership. Throughout my accounting and finance career, I have served multi-billion dollar global companies in positions of increasing responsibility including Financial Analyst, Manager of Cost Accounting, Manager of Internal Audit, and Director of Consolidations. Currently I am Director of Consolidations for Tronox Limited, a $2.8 billion dollar multinational mining and chemical manufacturing company. Daily, I collaborate with people all over the world where I have to listen, understand, influence, build relationships, make decisions and ultimately improve business processes and do my part to ensure Tronox succeeds in a globally competitive environment. I have run many successful programs at work, in Scouting, church, and community. I worked in a family plumbing and heating business while growing up, through college, and beyond. I joined The Boy Scouts of America as a youth and remained active in the same troop for 43 years and witnessed many Scouts transform into fine adults of solid character. I knew from an early age, through the values of Scouting, that service to my church and community must remain a priority in my life. My wife, Karen, and I moved to Southington when we married in 1992. I grew up in the east end of Waterbury, not far from the top of Southington Mountain. Karen grew up in Bristol. Since moving to Southington and having children we have become very involved in the community through St. Dominic Church, Catholic schools, community sports, and other programs where we met so many good friends while raising our children Lauren and Matthew. Karen is the Physical Therapist for the Consolidated School District of New Britain. We love Southington and are proud to call Southington our home. |