Anderson ready to exit Buffalo Grove, take the helm in Barrington
The letter "B" is significant in Scott Anderson's life.
"B" is for Buffalo Grove, where he began his career as a police officer and rose to become finance director, as well as Barrington, where he'll soon be that community's new village manager.
And there were the three "B's" - Bill Balling, the late Bill Brimm and Dane Bragg - the village managers he served under in Buffalo Grove. Anderson will have plenty of opportunity to reminisce about the B's on Wednesday, when Buffalo Grove holds a farewell reception for him from 3:30 to 5 p.m. in village hall.
Anderson said serving as a village manager was something he had been discussing with Bragg for a couple of years. Bragg responded by mentoring him.
"He had worked closely with me to align my projects to give me broad experience and transcend finance," Anderson said.
That included leading the village's exit from the Intergovernmental Risk Management Agency, a municipal insurance collective it helped found in the 1970s, to the new Suburban Liability Insurance Pool, a consortium with Elk Grove Village, Hoffman Estates and Highland Park.
"I really recognized that he had a lot of talent and skills when I got here," Bragg said. "And I decided to expand his responsibilities."
Anderson has been credited with helping Buffalo Grove earn AAA bond ratings from both Moody's and Standard & Poor's and restructuring the budget process to make it more transparent.
Bragg said Barrington will "gain a great leader" when Anderson begins work there in June.
"To me, he has been more than a finance director," Bragg said. "He has been a good adviser, analyst, leader and mentor to a lot of people in our organization. He's innovative, he's entrepreneurial in figuring out how to approach complex situations or problems."
Anderson said he sees similarities between Buffalo Grove and Barrington.
"It's a full-service community, with a very stable board and very solid finances," he said. "The community is very engaged. There are a lot of volunteers."
He credits Balling for giving him the chance to transition from the police department to finance and Brimm, his predecessor as finance director, for being another good mentor.