Matt Bubness is a director with Baker Tilly’s public sector advisory practice. He brings more than 20 years of experience serving and working for a number of entities across the public sector. In his current role, Matt specializes in budgeting/strategic planning initiatives, organizational assessments and process improvements.
Prior to Baker Tilly, Matt worked at the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) leading outreach, engagement and development efforts related to budgeting and strategic planning process improvements for school districts and community colleges. In addition, Matt led the development of best practice guidelines for all types of local governments related to budget monitoring, performance measures and long-term financial planning. Matt also led consulting engagements for local governments primarily related to organizational assessments and process improvements particularly those related to budgeting.
Before GFOA, Matt worked for Chicago Public Schools (CPS) and the City Colleges of Chicago. He served as the operations and finance director for all special education programming and previously held roles in operating and capital budgeting for CPS.
Prior to his local government experience, Matt worked in the municipal bond field, including as a lead credit rating analyst at a global provider of credit ratings. Matt began his career with a municipal advisory firm which was acquired by the firm.
- Organizational assessments
- Process improvements
- Budget process analysis and strategic alignment
- “Fiscal first aid for school districts - recovering from financial distress,” School Business Affairs, 2022
- “Planning with ESSER Funds: Spending today without going off the funding cliff tomorrow,” Ohio SBO Quarterly, 2022
- “Fiscal First Aid for School Districts: Additional Considerations for Schools Dealing with COVID-19,” Government Finance Officers Association, 2020
- "Budgeting for Results: Leveraging Evidence-Based Funding Including Core FTE Recommendations to Improve Budgeting and Planning,” Illinois ASBO Update, 2020
- “Making Every Dollar Count: Serving Students in Challenging Times,” School Business Affairs, 2020
- “Equitable Distribution of Resources: What does fair and equitable mean to schools and the budget process?,” School Business Affairs, 2020
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