McHenry County promotes from within to fill chief financial officer role

McHenry County’s new chief financial officer is a familiar face, Assistant Director of Finance Kerri Wisz, who first joined the county’s finance department in 2015 as a senior financial analyst.

Wisz, a Crystal Lake resident, has worked as the assistant finance director since 2020 and succeeds Kevin Bueso, who left the county to become the chief financial officer for the Regional Transportation Authority, the county said in a news release.

As CFO, Wisz will develop the annual county budget with guidance from the County Board and oversee payroll, accounts payable and financial reporting, according to the release. She will supervise a staff of seven employees.

“I’m honored to take on the role of CFO for an organization as professional and as dedicated as McHenry County Government,” Wisz said in the release. “I look forward to working with the County Board, department heads and staff to craft responsible budgets and ensure that the public’s money is spent wisely.”

Wisz will receive a salary of $130,000 and will not have a contract, McHenry County Administrator Peter Austin said. She will receive the typical health care offered to county employees.

“We’re happy to have Kerri as our CFO,” said McHenry County Board Chairman Mike Buehler, R-Crystal Lake. “She’s been in the department for a long time and she’s highly qualified. ... I think she’s a natural progression and knows all the history of the county.”

Austin said in the release he expects Wisz to continue the county’s “long tradition of financial excellence.”

“McHenry County’s finances are in very experienced and capable hands with Kerri as our CFO,” Austin said.

McHenry County for the first time in more than a decade raised its property tax last year, but did not cut services or staff despite not seeing an increase through the Great Recession and the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the release.

The county was awarded the Government Finance Officers Association’s “Triple Crown” in back-to-back years, which means it won all three of the association’s financial reporting awards in one year, according to the release.

Before working in McHenry County, Wisz worked for the Centegra Health Care System from 2005 to 2015, which in recent years was bought by Northwestern Medicine, Austin said. Before Centegra, she worked at Lutheran General Hospital from 2001 to 2005, where she worked as a senior financial analyst, county communications and project manager Alicia Schueller said.

She has a bachelor’s degree with a concentration in finance and a master’s in business administration, both from Northern Illinois University, according to the release. she is also an active member in both the Illinois Municipal Treasurers Association and the Government Finance Officers Association.