Candidate Profile: FL CFO: Jeff Atwater

Candidate: Jeff Atwater

Office: Florida CFO (incumbent)

Party: Republican

Jeff Atwater is the Republican incumbent Chief Financial Officer of Florida. He is challenged by Democrat Will Rankin in the November 4 election.

Atwater moved to Florida at the age of 4 and grew up in North Palm Beach. After a career in banking, he was elected to the North Palm Beach Village Council in 1993, later serving as chairman, president, and CEO of the Barnett Bank of Broward County and the Treasure Coast, and then as market president of Riverside National Bank for Palm Beach and Broward counties.

A former Rep in the Florida House, he left and ran for the Florida Senate, defeating long-time Democratic Attorney General of Florida Bob Butterworth, going on to serve two more terms, while serving as that chamber's President from 2008-10.

Following the decision by then-Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink to run for governor rather than seek re-election, Atwater ran for CFO and won in a landslide.

One of Atwater's major accomplishments as CFO has been his success in curbing fraud. Insurance fraud arrests have helped shut down more than 157 fraudulent PIP clinics, and more than 4,500 offenders have been arrested since 2011. His DFS senior fraud initiative has helped reduce scams against seniors and 535 arson arrests have been made through the Bureau of Fire and Arson since he took over, leaving that department with a closing rate 10 percent above the national average.