Fulton County Schools names next finance head as CFO retires

Fulton County Schools board members surround retiring Chief Financial Officer Robert Morales, center, who is retiring.

Fulton County Schools board members surround retiring Chief Financial Officer Robert Morales, center, who is retiring.

Fulton County Schools is bidding farewell to its chief financial officer.

Robert Morales, who has held top finance jobs at several metro Atlanta districts, is retiring from the job.

He left Fulton County Schools in 2015 for a position with Atlanta Public Schools, and later returned to the Fulton district in 2017. He previously worked for Cobb County School District.

In February, the Fulton district announced that its budget services department was one of six in the nation to receive the Government Finance Officers Association Award for Best Practices in School Budgeting for fiscal year 2017-2018.

Marvin Dereef, the district’s deputy chief financial officer, will take over as Fulton’s chief financial officer.

“The school board did a really good job of succession planning for that critical position, that person is in place and ready to go and we’re excited about his work,” said incoming Superintendent Mike Looney, who will start his job next week.