Greater Sudbury Council tonight approved the hiring of Ron Foster as Auditor General following a comprehensive nationwide search. Foster will begin a five-year contract on December 1, 2015, replacing acting Auditor General Vasu Balakrishnan. Mr. Balakrishnan will resume the role of Senior Auditor.

“As a Chartered Professional Accountant/Chartered Accountant and external auditor, I fully appreciate the value of the work that an Auditor General can bring to an organization as diverse and complex as ours,” said Councillor Mike Jakubo, Chair of the Hiring Committee. “The Hiring Committee is thrilled that Ron has chosen to bring his extensive experience to the City of Greater Sudbury to lead the Auditor General’s office.”

Foster is a Chartered Professional Accountant/Certified Management Accountant, a Certified Internal Auditor, a Certified Information Systems Auditor, and holds designations in project management, fraud examination and risk management assurance. A senior manager at KPMG for eight years, Foster was the Auditor General for the City of Oshawa from 2006 to 2013 before working as an audit consultant.

“On behalf of Council, I want to welcome Mr. Foster to the City of Greater Sudbury,” said Mayor Brian Bigger. “I am excited that we have successfully fulfilled one of our priorities by hiring a new Auditor General on a longer-term contract, and I know that Mr. Foster will continue the work of moving forward Council’s agenda of transparency and accountability.”

The Hiring Committee included Mayor Brian Bigger and Councillors Mike Jakubo, Al Sizer and Lynne Reynolds.

Under the Municipal Act, the Auditor General reports to Council and is responsible for assisting the Council in holding itself and its administrators accountable for the quality of stewardship over public funds and for achievement of value for money in municipal operations.