Career in Focus: Working in Finance

Interested in learning more about the intersection between public and private finance? Considering career advancement within a highly regulated financial institution? Curious about how advanced knowledge of public policy can help you navigate a career in finance?

Join us Tuesday, April 27 to learn from a panel of alumni and current students about the impact of the MA in public policy on their careers in the finance industry. We are pleased to be joined by the panelists below.

Makai Edwards

Associate Director, U.S. Public Finance

Makai joined S&P Global Ratings in August 2020 and is currently an Associate Director within the Local Government East Region team.  In his role, Makai evaluates the credit quality of municipalities and school districts. This work includes reviewing financial, economic, and legal data; presenting recommendations to a rating committee; and communicating results with clients, investors, and the media.

Prior to joining S&P Global Ratings, Makai worked for PNC Financial Services Group as a Credit Product Specialist.  In his role, Makai negotiated legal documentation, pricing, and administration of direct placements, lines of credit, letters of credit, and other bank lending products with various public finance entities including municipalities, school districts, transportation systems, higher education institutions, and utility providers.

Makai earned his Master of Arts in Public Policy from the University of Chicago and his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Washington University in St. Louis

Arlevea Freeman, EMP

Statistics Analyst, The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago

Arlevea Freeman is a current EMP student, a graduate from Wellesley College, and a Chicago native. She is a Statistics Analyst at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago working mainly with monetary policy related data. In addition to her quantitative career, she has led community engagement efforts in Chicago and Milwaukee around issues of financial equity for BIPOC women and  community wealth building in diverse low- income communities. She also lends her vocal talents as a voiceover actor for the Federal Reserve System and beyond.

Heather A. George, CFP

Senior Vice President and National Director, Bernstein Private Wealth Management

Heather A. George is a Senior Vice President and National Director of Bernstein Private Wealth Management working with the Wealth Strategies Group, Family Engagement Services. She works closely with high-net-worth families, family offices, foundations and endowments, and their professional advisors on family engagement and education, and a variety of complex investment planning issues, including pre-transaction planning, multigenerational wealth transfer, philanthropy and diversification planning for holders of concentrated portfolios. Heather initially joined the firm in 2001 as a financial advisor associate and was promoted to senior associate in 2003; she became an investment planning analyst in 2005 and was promoted to specialist in 2008. In 2011 she left the firm to start her own business in sustainable fashion. Heather was appointed to her current position of Director in 2016 after rejoining the firm in 2014 as an associate director. In 2013, she was a director of the Knowledge Center at Family Office Exchange, a membership and research organization for ultrahigh-net-worth families and their advisors. Heather is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ and holds a BA in French, Spanish and Japanese from St. Lawrence University. She has an MA from The University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy. Heather resides in the Southport Corridor neighborhood of Chicago with her rescue dog, a dachshund mix named Gertie.