• How did you select your graduate school and how did it prepare you for your career?
• Work or internship experience during graduate school
• What was the most important or useful course you took in the MPA/MPP?
• Were you a Presidential Management Intern?
• What has been your career path since graduating? What do you want to be doing in 5 years?
• What is the most exciting and/or interesting aspect of your current job?
• Do you feel your MPA/MPP is helping you to “make a difference?” How?
• What advice, if any, would you give to an undergraduate thinking about going for an MPA/MPP?

How did you select your graduate school and how did it prepare you for your career?

> I selected my school based on availability of concentrated topics and inclusion of current and former practitioners on the faculty. I had been in the professional field for a few years, and wanted to find a program that applied the educational program to the practical public administration environment. I looked at several schools and found one of the country’s top rated schools in my own “backyard.”

Any work or internship experience during graduate school?

> I attended the graduate program in the evening after work. During the three years in the graduate program, I worked for a local policy think tank conducting social and economic statistical benchmarking and worked with local governments in the development of performance measurement and budget systems. I then entered the private sector as a management consultant working on federal and state government projects. 


What was the most important or useful course you took in the MPA/MPP?

> Budget and Planning. This course is the backbone of everything we do in the public sector. We establish plans based on need. We then prioritize plans based on available resources during the period of mapping our program planning and budget planning. During the fiscal year, we implement program plans based on defined project management standards with performance measurement to review on a periodic basis. Mid-year we adjust our implementation plans as fiscal realities often require. We incorporate the outcome of our current year efforts in the development of next year’s planning and resource allocation.

Were you a Presidential Management Intern?

> No

What has been your career path since graduating? What do you want to be doing in 5 years?

> During the last portion of graduate school I worked as a management consultant, advising agencies at the federal and state level. During this experience, I recognized that in order to influence and change government it had to happen from the inside. In 1998, the Mayor of Cleveland was given stewardship of the Cleveland Schools through a unique state law. I was invited to be part of the transition team on behalf of the Mayor, serving for four years as Executive Director of Operations, then Chief Operating Officer. In 2002, I joined the Los Angeles Unified School District as Business Manager.

In five years I would like to serve as a city manager or county administrator here in California, and teach as an ad hoc professor for a public administration graduate program.

What is the most exciting and/or interesting aspect of your current job?

> The most exciting part of my job is the establishment of management systems. Large governmental organizations often lack standard operating procedures on which to rely, strategic plans on which to prioritize and align resources, and data standards on which to base sound decision-making. The ability to develop and implement such management systems, often against the political environment that has enjoyed such ambiguity, and be able to illustrate a sound return on investment, is the reason I chose this career path. 

Do you feel your MPA/MPP is helping you to “make a difference?” How?

> Absolutely. The MPA program was a system of moving education from theory to applied practice. I used the application of statistics to establish a “logic scenario” on which to base decision-making for the development of a $1.2 billion dollar master plan for school construction. I used budgeting coursework to establish a cost-neutral school bus replacement program in which the savings off-set from maintenance would pay for the debt service issued to finance the buses. I use the human resources knowledge as a basis of union-management relations and staff management. Given enough space here, I could go course for course and apply it in the work we do everyday.

What advice, if any, would you give to an undergraduate thinking about going for an MPA/MPP?

> As a general statement, challenge yourself and your professors. Get there early and stay late to discuss the application of coursework with professors that came from the public sector. You will learn as much outside of class as you do in class.

Become a member of public administration organizations and subscribe to public administration journals. Examining the issues being discussed in periodicals is an excellent way to see how the coursework is cross-walked into everyday management situations.

For coursework, prioritize budget, finance, strategic planning and labor relations. Next, delve into research methods, organizational development, and communications. Take theory classes in leadership, values and ethics. These will be the foundation from which you will lead and make tough decisions in a politically charged environment.