At a special-call meeting Wednesday morning, Columbus City Council voted unanimously to hire James Brigham as the city’s new chief financial officer.
Brigham was interviewed by the full council for about an hour behind closed doors. After the interview, it took the council less than five minutes to approve the hire.
Brigham, who currently works with ERA King Real Estate in Oxford, Alabama, will start in two to three weeks at a salary of $100,000, according to Mayor Keith Gaskin.
A native of Wisconsin, Brigham has more than 30 years of financial, accounting and auditing experience. His most recent position was senior vice president of finance and administration at Jacksonville State University in Alabama.
He is a certified public accountant, a certified internal auditor, a certified fraud examiner and is certified in financial forensics.
The council hired Brigham from among more than 40 applicants. The city has been searching for a new chief financial officer since the resignation of former CFO Deliah Vaughn in September.
“I’m very excited that the council voted unanimously to bring him in as our next CFO,” Gaskin said. “From the first time we started talking to him, it was clear to everyone he had the qualifications and the experience that matched up perfectly with Columbus right now.”
For the full story, see Thursday’s edition.
Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.
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