The Plano ISD board of trustees on Dec. 9 named current Chief Financial Officer Steve Fortenberry as interim superintendent, said Lesley Range-Stanton, executive director for communications/news media liaison.

He will take over the superintendent duties on an interim basis Feb. 1, after the Jan. 30 retirement of Superintendent Richard Matkin.

After 40 years as a public school education and administrator, Matkin announced his retirement Oct. 7 and said he wished to spend more time with his family.

Fortenberry has 30 years of financial, strategic and operation experience in school finance and currently oversees the district's finances.

Before joining PISD, he served as CFO for McKinney ISD, Fort Worth ISD and Calcasieu Parish School Board in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Mr. Fortenberry is a former auditor for Arthur Anderson & Company and began his school finance career in 1983 as assistant director of Finance for Plano ISD.

Fortenberry is a certified public accountant and has a degree in business accounting from Texas Tech University.

The school board in early November interviewed search firms for a permanent superintendent. Community focus group sessions took place Dec. 1 and 2.

The deadline for superintendent applications is Jan. 22.

The week of Feb. 16 the first round of interviews is expected to take place and finalists interviews are expected to take place the week of Feb. 23.

The date to announce a lone finalist has not yet been set.