Alumni Profile: Kenneth Zalke, MPP’23

“As an Associate at Cornerstone Research, I help oversee projects from start to finish,” said Kenneth Zalke, MPP’23. Cornerstone Research specializes in economic, data, and financial analysis for businesses engaged in legal proceedings and regulatory investigations. “From developing strategy in meetings with clients and their legal teams, designing analytical methodologies with academic and industry experts, performing mixed-methods research, and summarizing results in technical reports, I work through research questions before presenting results to more senior staff and other stakeholders.”

The skills he gained while earning his Master of Public Policy (MPP), Zalke said, have unequivocally helped him find success at Cornerstone Research. “I need to be well-versed in both data-driven analysis and economic research techniques, in addition to being able to convey complex results to a broader audience. Harris provided a great foundation in all of those skills.”

Survey design, Zalke said, has been particularly valuable in his recent work. “I took Survey Questionnaire Design with Dr. René Bautista during my last quarter, and Dr. Bautista taught us how to effectively construct and test a survey questionnaire. Much of my workload in the past year has been centered around the design, implementation, and analysis of a consumer survey, and I have had the opportunity to collaborate with an academic survey expert and third-party survey programmers throughout this process.”

Zalke’s pathway to Cornerstone Research—and the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy—first took shape while he was completing his undergraduate degree from the University of California, Riverside. “I was at a bit of a loss with my professional trajectory. I had been studying business economics, partially because most of my family had been in sales and partially because I wanted to take the math classes that came with economics. However, after taking an elective course on labor economics—with Dr. Carolyn Sloane—I felt reinvigorated.”

After graduating from the University of California, Riverside, Zalke began working at Resolution Economics, a litigation consulting firm similar to Cornerstone Research that specializes in labor and employment litigation. “The partners all had PhDs and master’s degrees—some from the University of Chicago—and provided expert testimony in cases dealing with topics like employment discrimination. I basically did the data analysis and math that our clients and their legal teams could not do themselves,” he said. “It was a great experience because all the people at the top had higher degrees related to economics and statistics, and I was able to absorb so much from them.”

However, Zalke recognized there were still barriers to moving up in the field. “I simply didn’t have the training—in economics, statistics, or computer programming—to get to the next level.” Zalke’s work at Resolution Economics also got him thinking about public policy. “My work began to mirror policy debates related to the classification of gig workers in California—my home state—so when I became aware of the plethora of careers that existed at the intersection of economics and public policy, I decided to pursue a graduate program in a related field.”

Zalke said his first step was finding a program that would round out his economics, statistics, and computer programming training while building out his public policy knowledge. “Fortunately,” Zalke said with a laugh, “Dr. Sloane had a thought about that.”

Looking ahead, Zalke remains focused on learning more about economic consulting and advancing within his organization. “At Cornerstone Research, the Associate position allows me to work on and oversee projects spanning antitrust, consumer fraud, employment discrimination, finance, and healthcare matters. I’m currently most interested in Cornerstone Research’s ‘Consumer Fraud and Product Liability’ practice, but I’m always interested in working on projects in other practices. In addition, I’m eager to continue applying the training in data analysis and programming, econometrics, and mixed-methods research I received at Harris.”