This past week, the Houston Independent School District (HISD) Board of Trustees unanimously voted to name HISD Deputy Superintendent and Chief Financial Officer Ken Huewitt as interim superintendent of the largest school district in the state of Texas beginning March 1.
Huewitt will serve in this capacity while HISD Trustees search for a permanent replacement for outgoing Superintendent Terry Grier, who is stepping down at the end of this month after almost seven years with the district. The HISD Board is in the process of hiring a new firm to help them in their search for a permanent replacement for Grier. Once hired, that firm will be tasked with helping the HISD Board conduct a survey and hold community meetings to gather input on the superintendent candidate profile, which will then be used to recruit candidates.
“It is an honor to have the opportunity to lead the Houston Independent School District, and I thank the board for their confidence,” Huewitt said. “We want to continue to stabilize the district, but also keep Houston on the map as the top urban district in the country.”
Huewitt, who joined HISD in 2001, has served as Deputy Superintendent and Chief Financial Officer since last July, when he was tapped as Dr. Grier’s second in command and charged with overseeing the district’s day-to-day operations in the superintendent’s absence. He also oversees all financial operations of the district, including the Controller’s Office, Budget and Financial Planning, Benefits and Risk Management, Medicaid Finance, Real Estate, Materials Management and Warehousing, as well as the School Business Manager Training Program
Before being named Chief Financial Officer, Huewitt spent 11 years as the HISD Controller, tasked with accounting for the district’s then $1.5 billion annual operating budget. Prior to joining HISD, Huewitt served as an auditor for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of Inspector General, a senior audit specialist for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), a senior associate for Coopers & Lybrand, and a regional director of finance for The ServiceMaster Corporation.