Class of 2023 career outcomes
See where our master’s degree alumni are working six months after graduating.
Alumni updates
Wes Sparkman (MPA ’00) has entered the Dane County executive race. Sparkman is director of the Dane County Tamara D. Grigsby Office for Equity and Inclusion where he oversees the Equal Opportunity, Affirmative Action, Contact Compliance, and Americans with Disabilities Act and Civil Rights Compliance functions. Sparkman was recognized as the La Follette School’s 2023 Alum of Distinction.
Patrick Fuchs (MPA ’11) was nominated by President Biden to be a member of the Surface Transportation Board in the Biden Administration. He has served as a member of the Surface Transportation Board since January 2019, advancing transportation policies that address unreasonable practices and inadequate service, adjudicating railroad transactions that generate new capital investments and routing options, and streamlining inefficient processes that unduly burden the public. Before his appointment, Fuchs served as a senior professional staff member working on surface transportation and maritime issues for the United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, where he played an integral role in the development and enactment of significant railroad legislation.
Emily Ley (MPA ’11) was hired as the City of Merrill’s new finance director and started work for the city on Jan. 2. Ley previously worked as assistant finance director for the City of Wausau. In her new role, she will be responsible for managing city finances, preparing budgets, conducting financial analysis, financial planning and reporting, and communicating the city’s financial information to city officials and the public.
Steven Swedberg (MIPA ’13) started a new position as a fiscal analyst at the North Carolina General Assembly. Previously, Swedberg worked for the American Institutes for Research as a qualitative researcher of K-12 education and housing policy, where he interviewed study participants and conducted qualitative data analysis.
Michaela Meckel (MIPA ’14) started a new position as director of evaluation and data management at the Center for Supportive Schools. Previously, Meckel worked for the child and family service organization Brightpoint for over nine years, most recently as director of performance and analytics.
Benjamin Olneck-Brown (MPA ’20) was promoted to the position of officer at the Pew Charitable Trusts, where he works to facilitate evidence-informed policymaking and the production of community- and policy-relevant knowledge that is used across multiple contexts. In his new role, he works with a cohort of foundation leaders, government research funders, and university chancellors and presidents to advance an agenda that enables greater public engagement, impact, and equity across the research enterprise.
Tamanna Akram-Turenne (MIPA ’21) was promoted to the role of consultant at The Shelby Group. Previously, she worked as an associate consultant for the business management consulting group based in Shaumburg, Illinois.
Hayley Barwick (MPA ’22) worked on two recently published reports evaluating telework and space management. One report focuses on Wisconsin state agencies and the other focuses on UW institutions. Barwick works as an associate performance evaluator for the Wisconsin Legislative Audit Bureau.
Emma Heins (MPA ’22) appeared on Wisconsin Public Radio to discuss electric vehicle (EV) charging bills and answer listener questions about EVs. Heins works as a policy manager at the Electrification Coalition, where she manages the organization’s state policy work in Wisconsin and North Carolina as well as some of the organization’s federal infrastructure work.
Gabriel Stowe Terrell (MPA ’23) accepted a position as a senior management consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton. He will start his new role, which will include consulting with leaders at cabinet-level agencies and Fortune 500 companies, in May after completing his MS in urban and regional planning at UW–Madison. Terrell has worked in various policy positions for the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, the Federal Transit Administration, and Downtown Madison Inc.
Amelia Wagner (MPA ’23) testified at the 2024 Joint Legislative Budget Hearing in Albany, New York in January. On behalf of Health Care for All New York, Wagner emphasized provisions of the budget that will improve access to quality, affordable health coverage for all New Yorkers. Wagner, who won the Director’s Achievement Award for an outstanding academic record as a La Follette School student, works as a health policy manager for the Community Service Society of New York.