Page 72 - CSJ - ADF - AMB 10 07 19

Luz Cofresi-Howe

Friday, September 27, 2019 2:32 PM

General Questions

1. Why are you interested in the ADF opportunity with the City of San Jose? Tell me a bit about what you
know about the City.

The reason I am interested ­ it is a large City, a vibrant City, in an extraordinary area. There are a lot of things
going on in that City and area. The management and the City Manager are people who really understand that
they can't sit still ­ that they have to really grow innovate and do more ­ in looking at their last ten years they
are wise about growth, before the great recession they are about 11% bigger than they are now ­ they
understand financial sustainability ­ they are understanding that even though we are in a good position now
that may not always be true ­ the environment overall ­ locally and worldwide ­ they do have a worldwide
presence ­ it is just a magnetic place to work ­ I think recently they stopped using natural gas, which is
incredible. They are doing thing that San Francisco is already doing ­ and they are doing things that advance
their population and the world, frankly.

2.Please describe your most recent position and day­to­day responsibilities.

I recently was the CFO for the NCTD ­ the NCTD is a regional transportation agency in the San Diego county.
Our annual budget was about $136m. We have about $335m CIP program 5­10 year. My day to day was
managing a staff of 19. I was responsible for all financial functions, like audit, payroll, budget, I also did some
internal controls with our own department and other departments. I was responsible for fair revenue tracking,
investment, day to day, either directly or indirectly we were responsible for everything. We did payroll in
house. One of the largest projects I was responsible for was implementing the upgrade of the ERP called JD
Edwards. I came in as an assistant Chief Financial Officer and part of my responsibility was implementing the
ERP ­ it took three years to implement. Overall the experience was pretty intense and interesting.

Left the position in 2018 ­ had a personal health challenge ­ in 2017 ­ even though I continued to work for
another year, it became really apparent to me that in order to recover I had to give up a job that I really loved.

I retired early but I have a strong desire to work. 10­15 years left in her career.

Have a good poker face and am really resilient.
3. How many employees do you supervise? Who do you report to?

A staff of 19 ­ I was hired in April 2015 ­ at that point as the Deputy Chief Financial Officer ­ at that point I was
managing 17 of them. I reported to the CEO ­ one of my references.

Finance Questions
4. Please describe the ways in which you determine whether your organization is operating efficiently and
effectively.

First of all ­ we do a lot of surveys ­ a lot of surveys ­ I do not sit in my office ­ I do a lot of walk arounds. I talk
to anyone who is implementing our budget ­ and then I actually talk to the users of the services. If we have