The City of Montgomery’s Chief Financial Officer Betty Beville may be a grandmother herself, but she still holds tightly to what her mother taught her: Strive to be the best she can be at whatever she aspires to do. Today, as the City’s first Black and first female CFO, she’s giving her best to her city, and Montgomery’s reaping the benefits.
Are you from Montgomery? I am not from Montgomery but have been living here for more than 46 years. I am originally from Livingston and came to Montgomery after marrying the love of my life, Johnny Beville, on July 5, 1975.
When did you start as finance director for the City of Montgomery? I was appointed by Mayor Steven L. Reed as the Interim Finance Director in December 2019. He then appointed me as the Finance Director in May 2020.
What are your primary duties in this role? As the Finance Director (or Chief Financial Officer), I am first and foremost responsible for managing the financial assets of the City of Montgomery in accordance to generally accepted accounting principles. Second, I am responsible for ensuring the security of all critical business systems and various other data center operations. I currently have oversight for five departments: Finance, Risk Management, Procurement, Grants and Information Technology. It is my responsibility to plan, coordinate, direct and manage the activities and operations of the aforementioned departments to include, but not limited to, financial administration, internal audits, revenue collection, payroll processing, budget development, accounts receivable and payable, cash management, debt service, capital projects, financial reporting, purchasing, risk management operations, enterprise fund activities, grants accounting, fixed asset accountability and all technological enhancements and/or security for the City.
What does it mean to you to be the first Black finance director and first female finance director in the city’s history? It is definitely an honor. I share the mayor’s vision of ensuring that the city becomes a “progressive city” and to also be a “trailblazing city,” a place that all the citizens are happy to call their home.
What’s your favorite aspect of your work? Everything in the accounting discipline is cyclical. It never gets boring because I am always performing different tasks. I also have an awesome leader, Mayor Steven L. Reed, and a team of very qualified employees who make it a real pleasure for me to come to my office and perform my duties. I was taught the ethics of quality hard work by my mother. I am a strong advocate for excellence, and I attempt to excel in everything that I do. I avidly give 100-percent plus of my energies to my job and other assigned projects so that the City of Montgomery continues to stand out among other municipalities.
What are your interests outside of work? My favorite activity is to spend time with family and friends. My husband and I have two children. Our son, Adrian and his wife, Jennifer, are the parents of our oldest\ granddaughter, Aleha, who is a graduate from Auburn University at Auburn with a degree in software engineering. Our daughter Jocelyn and her husband, Bertrand, are the parents of our two youngest granddaughters, Averin and Karys (5 and 1 years old). I also enjoy reading, walking, cooking and just being the person who will always answer a call of service.
Award-Winning Work
Under Betty Beville’s leadership, the City of Montgomery received the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting from The Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) of the United States and Canada for 2020 in recognition of its easily readable and efficiently organized Comprehensive Annual Financial Report. “Although the City has submitted and received the Certificate for numerous years, it was especially important to submit financials and be awarded the certificate in the year of a pandemic,” Beville said.
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