Lunda Asmani has been selected for the position of Chief Financial Officer at Norwalk Public Schools. The former director of management and budgets for the City of Norwalk, he brings extensive experience in public finance and economic development, as well as a deep commitment to the Norwalk community. Pending Board of Education approval, Mr. Asmani would join the district effective December 7, 2021.

Mr. Asmani joins Norwalk Public Schools from the Town of New Canaan, where he has served as chief financial officer since December 2019. A member of the senior town management team, his accomplishments have included creating a more effective public financial management strategy, and improving financial processes and procedures among all departments of the town. In this role, Mr. Asmani oversees the development and implementation of financial policies and procedures, manages financial operations, and oversees the town’s annual budget process and long-range financial plan.

In addition to maintaining the town’s Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting, Mr. Asmani also implemented the New Canaan Budget Book Publication and the Popular Annual Financial Report, both of which have received consecutive years of the Distinguished Presentation Award by the Government Finance Officers. He also oversees the Office of Tax Collections and Office of Tax Assessment. He is responsible for all aspects of debt management, and during his tenure, maintained the town’s Aaa bond credit rating. Prior to being named CFO, he served as New Canaan’s budget director, with responsibility for the preparation, review and control of the town’s $154 million operating budget and $78 million capital budget.

Before joining New Canaan, Mr. Asmani served for two years as director of management and budgets for the City of Norwalk. In this role, he planned and managed the preparation and administration of the City’s operating and capital budgets. He led budget policy planning with the Mayor’s Office, Common Council, and Board of Estimate and Taxation, and provided near-term and long-range financial and economic planning. Mr. Asmani’s work in Norwalk also included planning and overseeing a review of systems and procedures, and internal audits of the fiscal operations of departments and special grants programs. He oversaw the insurance risk control program, participated on all bond issues, and directed a variety of policies, systems and procedures. 

Before moving to Connecticut, Mr. Asmani spent six years as assistant city manager of budget and finance for the City of Newton, Kansas, and served in a variety of business and financial positions for Kansas’s Sedgwick County Government. From 2003-2016, he was also an adjunct instructor of economics at Butler Community College in Kansas. He was named a Forty Under Forty honoree by the Wichita Business Journal, and also received a CFO award from the publication. 

A Norwalk resident, Mr. Asmani volunteers his time as treasurer of Norwalk Mutual Housing, on the advisory board of the Norwalk Salvation Army, as a trustee of Grace Baptist Church, and as a board member of Norwalk Community Health Center. On the national level, he serves as executive board member of the Government Finance Officers Association of USA and Canada.

Mr. Asmani holds a master of public administration from Wichita State University and a bachelor of arts in urban planning and economics from the University of Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. He earned graduate certificates in public finance and economic development from Wichita State University, and completed work in the Advance Government Finance Institute at the University of Wisconsin, and the local government Senior Executive Institute at the University of Virginia. He is a Certified Public Finance Officer (CPFO).