City Manager David White announces retirement of Finance Director Gigi Decavalles-Hughes
August 21, 2023 11:52 AM
SANTA MONICA, Calif. — City Manager David White announced the December retirement of Director of Finance and Treasurer Gigi Decavalles-Hughes, who has served the City of Santa Monica for 26 years.
Decavalles-Hughes has led the City’s Finance Department for the past 12 years, overseeing the management of the city investment portfolio, preparation of the budget, financial reporting, purchasing, payroll, accounts payable, business and revenue operations, internal audit, and risk management.
“Gigi has a tenure of outstanding service, leading the City through some of our most challenging financial moments,” City Manager David White said. “She will certainly be missed, but I wish her all the best in her well-deserved retirement and am confident she has set us up for future success long after she departs.”
Decavalles-Hughes first joined the City in 1997 as a budget analyst after moving to California from New York. Decavalles-Hughes then served for several years in the Community and Cultural Services Department and the Housing and Economic Development Department before returning to the Finance Department.
“It has been an honor and a privilege to serve this innovative and compassionate City and to work alongside a brilliant and devoted City staff,” Decavalles-Hughes said. “I look forward to seeing the great work that Santa Monica will continue to achieve in the future.”
Decavalles-Hughes’ many career accomplishments include:
- Managing the City’s finances through numerous unprecedented challenges, including the dissolution of the Redevelopment Agency, the passage of significant changes to the public pension system, and the economic hardship resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Overseeing the successful passage of three tax ballot measures supporting schools, affordable housing, general city services, and efforts to address public safety and homelessness.
- Developing and implementing the City’s minimum wage ordinance.
- Securing more than $270 million in low-interest bond financing for major infrastructure projects throughout the City.
- Developing and managing the City’s internal audit program.
Decavalles-Hughes will remain in her position through the end of the year while the City conducts a recruitment for her successor.
Media Contact
Tati Simonian
Public Information Officer
Tati.Simonian@santamonica.gov
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