Mayor promotes city controller to chief of staff

City-County Controller Jason Dudich has been named chief of staff to Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard, the mayor’s office announced Friday morning.

Dudich will succeed Ryan Vaughn, who is leaving the mayor’s office to become president of the Indiana Sports Corp. Dudich and Vaughn begin their new jobs Monday.

Dudich has been controller since May 2013. Before that he was associate commissioner and chief financial officer of the Indiana Commission for Higher Education.

His other previous positions include director of strategic finance for the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration, budget analyst at the State Budget Agency and senior budget analyst with the Illinois Bureau of the Budget.

“Jason has provided tremendous leadership during the last two budget cycles while working on many of our major initiatives,” Ballard said in a written statement. “His knowledge of city operations and budgeting will be extremely beneficial in this new role as we continue to accomplish big things to better Indianapolis.”

Dudich graduated from Indiana University in Bloomington, where he majored in public affairs and finance.

Matthew Kimmick, the city’s deputy controller and budget director, will serve as interim controller until Ballard appoints a successor to Dudich.

At the ISC, Vaughn is taking over for Allison Melangton, who is leaving to become senior vice president of events for Hulman Motorsports, a division of Hulman & Co., which owns IMS and IndyCar.

Before joining the Ballard administration in 2012, Vaughn was an attorney at Barnes & Thornburg, where his practice focused on government finance and government relations. He served on the City-County Council from 2007 to 2012, and was council president from 2009 to 2011.