Hays CISD Superintendent Eric Wright announced Wednesday the selection of Deborah Ottmers as the district’s new chief financial officer (CFO). She brings to the district more than four decades of experience, the majority of which have been in school finance. She also has experience as a career and technical education teacher, and in private-sector business.
“We are thrilled to have Deborah join the Hays CISD family,” said Dr. Eric Wright, Hays CISD superintendent of schools. “There are very few others in the state who could even come close to matching her expertise and commitment to public education finance. We face challenging times ahead in our district preparing for extraordinary growth, while also navigating the landscape of public education funding. Deborah is very much a welcomed addition to our team.”
Ottmers began her career in public education as a high school business teacher in 1993 at Southwest High School in San Antonio. She had previously been working in the accounting field for nine years and was inspired to become a teacher while volunteering as a judge at a high school Business Professionals of America national competition. In 1999, she moved from the classroom to the business office of Northeast ISD in San Antonio where she worked in the accounting and internal audit fields. In 2004, she became the assistant superintendent for business and finance for Fredericksburg ISD, and has most recently been serving as the chief finance officer for Ector County ISD in Odessa, Texas – a district with more than 33,000 students.
“I believe the financial services department in a school district is much more than merely managing financial and operational resources and ensuring the efficient and effective use of taxpayers’ funds. The department must also support the goals and priorities of the board, district, campuses, and community to educate Hays CISD’s most important resources, the students,” said Ottmers.
In addition to her role in leading district finance divisions, Ottmers writes and teaches many webinars, clinics, workshops, and classes for the Texas Association of School Business Officials (TASBO). She served on the TASBO Board of Directors from 2008-2015, including a term as the organization’s president. She earned her Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting from Southwest Texas State University (now Texas State University), and her Master of Business Administration from the University of Texas at San Antonio. She is a certified public accountant (CPA) and is a registered Texas school business administrator (RTSBA).
Ottmers and her husband Carlton have been married since 1988. They have two sons who are both engineers who graduated from Texas A&M University. She replaces Randy Rau, Hays CISD’s former CFO, who accepted a job in a neighboring school district.