Cook County, Illinois, CFO Rizki headed to Obama Foundation

Cook County, Illinois, is losing its fiscal chief, Ammar Rizki, to the Obama Foundation.

Rizki joined county government from the private sector in 2010 as a deputy director in the Department of Revenue. He left in 2012 to take a position as a fund manager in investment advisory services at Pakistan-based NBP Fullerton Asset Management Ltd.

Rizki returned to the county in 2013 as deputy chief financial officer and was elevated to the top post in 2017, steering the county through the COVID-19 pandemic while improving the county’s structural balance and pension funding.

Obama Foundation

“Ammar’s extensive experience in government and investment management, and deep understanding of complex financial systems will be invaluable to the growth and evolution of the foundation,” the foundation’s chief executive officer, Valerie Jarrett, said in a statement. “He brings a broad range of expertise that will move our mission forward as we empower the next generation of leaders and build the Obama Presidential Center.”

Rizki will take over as executive vice president and CFO in mid-June. He will work on the development and implementation of the foundation’s financial systems and processes and will have direct oversight of finance, accounting, treasury, and risk, the foundation said.

“I deeply admire the mission of the Obama Foundation. My goal is to create a strong financial and operating support system to take the great work already being done by the team and further strengthen it,” Rizki said in the statement.

The not-for-profit is spearheading the building of the Obama Presidential Center in Jackson Park on Chicago’s south side near where Barack Obama, his wife Michelle, and their daughters lived before his move to the White House after the 2008 election. The foundation broke ground on the center in September.

County officials did not respond to a request to comment.

Rizki played a lead role in making pension funding strides that helped Cook County turn the corner on negative rating actions.

The county board last fall signed off on Board President Toni Preckwinkle’s $8 billion budget bolstered by a $1 billion cushion from the American Rescue Plan Act. Those funds, along with the county’s navigation of the pandemic with an eye on preserving reserves and cash balances, and ongoing supplemental pension contributions that have pushed off insolvency threats, drove positive rating actions.

Fitch Ratings lifted the county’s GO rating to AA-minus from A-plus in November, assigning a stable outlook, and S&P Global Ratings returned the county’s outlook to stable from negative and affirmed the A-plus rating. Moody’s Investors Service affirmed its A2 rating and stable outlook.

Stronger than expected tax growth — especially from the online sales tax that took effect in January and cannabis taxes — along with federal relief, and holding expenses in check plugged a $121 million hole projected in preliminary budget estimates last June.

The county has $2.4 billion of general obligation debt and $570 million of sales tax bonds.

To stave off insolvency looming in 2039, the county began funneling supplemental contributions to the pension fund in 2016 fueled by a sales tax hike. The unfunded liabilities totaled $6.7 billion in 2020 for a funded ratio of 64% that has risen from 55% in 2015.

Cook County is home to Chicago and is the nation's second-most-populous county.