Alumni Profile: Alex Simon, Master of Public Policy’24

Alex Simon, MPP’24, began working for Cboe, a global exchange operator that provides trading, clearing, and investment solutions across different asset classes that is based in Chicago, during an internship at the start of her first year at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy. She has continued her work there after graduation as a full-time policy analyst.

“At Cboe, I work primarily on the market policy side of the public policy team, interpreting current and potential laws and regulations and their implications for Cboe," said Simon. "There are lots of intricate market structure issues that could impact Cboe’s businesses and its customers, and we advocate for frameworks that would be beneficial for investors like those that would improve prices and reduce inefficiencies.”

Simon also noted that working somewhere like Cboe may not be the most obvious path for Harris students. "To help rectify that, I’m glad to have been able to work with the Harris Career Development Office recently to arrange for students to come visit Cboe, learn about finance policy careers, and ring the opening bell on our trading floor. I thought it would be a valuable opportunity—especially as my own path to finance policy was a bit nontraditional."

Simon's first steps towards public policy occurred while she was an undergraduate at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. "In 2020, as part of my Spanish in the Community class, I began volunteering at the East Central Illinois Refugee Mutual Assistance Center [ECIRMAC]. We were one of the first points of contact for immigrant families getting situated in Champaign, and I helped wherever I could: translating government forms into Spanish, helping community members apply for government benefits, and even playing with young kids while their parents met with counselors. That experience opened my eyes to the lack of resources available to immigrant families and motivated me toward the public service space. Professor Ann Abbott, who taught the course, also challenged the class to think about how we can put our education and language abilities to work, and I began thinking about policy and immigration law."

Later that year, Simon joined the Karat School Project [KSP] as a grant writing intern. "I worked on a team of all women, and we applied for grants to purchase educational materials, meals, and other necessities for women, children, and KSP students in the Ivory Coast. I was able to work closely with the organization’s founder and CEO, who was inspiring in her altruistic dedication to helping those in need. It was my first in-depth exposure to issues in another country, which definitely broadened my worldview.”

Her experiences with ECIRMAC and KSP, Simon said, showed her the fallout of poor policy on vulnerable populations. "It frustrated me to see governments failing to meet their promises. Those two experiences spurred me to find ways I could advance solutions to improve their circumstances."

To that end, Simon began interning for Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, the representative for Illinois’ eighth district, in 2021. “I started in his district office working on constituent affairs and learned a lot about the legislative process. I then transitioned to his Washington, DC office to become a Press Intern. I drafted speeches, prepared talking points for his public appearances, and researched policy areas relevant to his agenda. Since Congressman Krishnamoorthi was the Chairman of the House Oversight Committee’s Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy,  this experience  was my first exposure to financial and economic policy."

The University of Chicago, Simon said, seemed the next logical step. "Growing up in the Illinois suburb of Palatine, the University of Chicago had always been a known quantity to me. I also recognized that my passion for financial policy needed to be tempered with strong quantitative skills. Harris was the best and clearest path for me," said Simon.

Simon said Harris set her up for success at Cboe. “I think the biggest skill I took away was researching topics I am less familiar with and especially learning how to write about them. Plus, as someone who did not come from a financial background, the opportunity to take finance classes, both through Harris and Booth, was a great opportunity."