Mayor-elect Cherelle Parker names top financial advisers and will retain longtime director Rob Dubow

Mayor-elect Cherelle Parker announced Tuesday that her administration will retain longtime city Finance Director Rob Dubow, who’s served in the same role under two administrations and steered the city into what is by most accounts a stronger financial position than it has been in years.

Dubow was among a trio of finance and budget department appointees Parker’s transition committee announced Tuesday, two weeks before she’ll be sworn in as mayor during an inauguration ceremony on Jan. 2.

Parker also announced that her budget director will be Robert McDermott, currently the chief financial officer in City Council, and the deputy budget director will be Ami Patel, who already works as McDermott’s deputy. Both are advisers to outgoing Council President Darrell L. Clarke, with whom Parker — herself a former Council member — has worked closely.

“The continuity that these three bring will ensure that the budget and fiscal health of the city is strong and in a place to serve the people of our city for the decades to come,” Parker said in a statement.

City officials have telegraphed for weeks that Parker was looking to retain Dubow, and outgoing Mayor Jim Kenney said publicly that he was urging her to do so, saying in a recent interview that “consistency is so important.”

Philadelphia’s fiscal health has markedly improved under Kenney’s administration by a handful of measures. Even as the city made incremental cuts to wage and business taxes, the $6.3 billion budget has what experts say are adequate cash reserves. And the city projects the pension fund will be 80% funded in five years, up from 44.8% when Kenney took office.

» READ MORE: The city budget has been a source of pain for past Philly mayors. Under Jim Kenney, it’s been a bright spot.

In a recent interview, Dubow credited Kenney, saying: “While we’re in better fiscal shape, part of it is he is willing to say no to things. And he gets calls about it, and he’s willing to stick with it.”

The city also has the federal government to thank, and Kenney has said that Philadelphia would be in a much different financial position were it not for the $1.4 billion in federal aid it received from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.

Dubow was first named finance director in 2008 under former Mayor Michael A. Nutter and navigated the city through the financial crisis. Since 2013, the three major credit rating agencies have rated the city’s general obligation bonds versions of “A,” and Kenney’s administration says its current mix of ratings is the highest in more than four decades.

Prior to his appointment, Dubow was the executive director of the Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority, a state board that oversees the city’s financial health. He also held a handful of other roles in the city’s Finance Department, including as the budget director under former Mayor John F. Street.

The finance officials are among just a handful of cabinet members and top advisers that Parker has named. Last month, she announced her police commissioner will be Kevin J. Bethel, a former deputy commissioner who most recently led safety initiatives at the School District of Philadelphia.

And on Monday, she announced what she’s calling her “big three” staffers: chief of staff will be Tiffany W. Thurman, a vice president with the Greater Philadelphia YMCA, and two of Parker’s top campaign officials, Sinceré Harris and Aren Platt, will each be chief deputy mayors.