Managing Editor
City Chief Administrative Officer Kerri Stewart spoke Monday to Women Business Owners of North Florida to share her insights into “Women in Leadership.”
Almost 60 members of WBO, meeting at River City Brewing Company on the Downtown Southbank, heard Stewart talk about being the city’s first woman to serve as CAO and her role in overseeing the city’s billion-dollar budget and 8,000 employees.
Stewart, a third-generation Jacksonville native from the Westside, graduated from the University of North Florida with a business degree. She worked several jobs in private industry, including with Fidelity Information Services Inc., where she worked on a project in Leeds, England.
Her father shared two career insights with her.
“Certain doors will be closed to you because you are a woman. Other doors will be open to you because you’re a woman,” she said.
Stewart was appointed CAO in late January to replace Alan Mosley, who took a position with the Florida Department of Transportation. She also believes that she is the youngest person to be appointed CAO. She just turned 41.
Stewart joined the City seven years ago. After serving on Mayor John Peyton’s transition team, she joined his staff in July 2003 as a policy director.
In 2005 she worked on an organizational review that led to creation of the Mayor’s Office of Performance, Audit and Management Accountability. She also was appointed director of the City’s Housing and Neighborhoods Department and managed several divisions.
She was named deputy chief administrative officer in October 2007, taking oversight of The Jacksonville Journey, Project New Ground and the City’s administration of federal stimulus funds from the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act.
The role of CAO is one in which “you suddenly realize the buck stops with you,” she said.
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