Alumni Profiles
Steve Eller, BSPA '84
Steve Eller graduated from SPEA in 1984 with a Bachelor of Science in Public Affairs and a concentration in Personnel and Labor Relations. While at IU, Steve was involved in several recreational sports programs. His football team, The Quest, was undefeated and won the 1983 All-Campus championship. The IU Student Recreation Sports Association selected him as Athlete of the Year (1983-84) for the Independent Division and he received First Team All-Tournament honors at the 1983 Mid-West Regional Football Tournament. To top it all off, Steve rode in the 1982 Little 500.
Since then, Steve has taken his drive and passion and applied it to all aspects of his professional career. He received his MBA from Indiana Wesleyan University in Marion, Indiana, while working as a personnel representative for General Electric. Currently, Steve is the Vice President of Human Resources for the Robert Bosch Corporation. He has responsibility in North America for the International Human Resources Department, Associate Relations, the Business Ethics Program, Diversity, HR initiatives for the Mexico region, and University Recruiting and Professional Trainee Programs. And that last piece is reflective of one of Steve’s passions: mentoring students entering the professional world.
“I believe in the importance of giving back to Indiana University,” he said. “Mentoring is a great way for me to do that. IU provided me a foundation for my professional career and I would not have achieved my professional goals without my education from Bloomington.”
Along with getting a mentor, Steve recommends that students take the time to evaluate career opportunities, confirming that the desired position and culture would meet the students’ interests and strengths. He also says to “set realistic goals, but be open minded. Organizations evolve and people change over time, so your interests today may continue through your entire career or you may discover another career path during the professional journey.”
Steve serves as the secretary/treasurer for the SPEA Alumni Board. He frequently speaks at campus functions and presents in SPEA Professor Bill Hodson’s undergraduate Human Resource class each semester. He also serves as a member of both the Supply Chain Academy Board and the IU Human Resource Advisory Council through the Kelley School of Business.
Steve lives in Commerce Township, Michigan, with his wife, Kim, and two children, Ashley (15) and Michael (11).
Steve Eller welcomes students to contact him by email.
Nikki White, BSPA '98
Nikki White still remembers the course work from her Limnology class. She still keeps the textbooks in her office. Nikki graduated from SPEA in 1998 with a bachelor’s in Public Affairs and Environmental Management. During her time at IU, she was a member of a sorority, played numerous intramural sports, and was (and still is) an avid IU basketball fan.Following graduation, Nikki received her Master of Science in Engineering Management from George Washington University. She interned for the Environmental Protection Agency in Chicago and then worked for various management consulting firms in Washington, D.C. Currently, Nikki works as a Senior Greenhouse Gas Analyst in Arlington, Virginia, with Clear Carbon Consulting, a firm founded in March 2007 by SPEA MPA alumnus Kyle Tanger. “SPEA gave me a deep knowledge base on environmental issues,” she said. “The policy and practical classes give students the ability to help solve problems in the real world.” She continued to say that this strong educational base allowed for a quick transition from water to energy to climate change consulting for her current clients.
Nikki advises current and prospective SPEA students to “take classes you are interested in and focus your career on what makes you happy.” She also encourages students to take advantage of everything offered to them in college. “This is the only time you will have this opportunity.” Additionally, Nikki challenged students to explore the growing environmental industry and to look “high and low for jobs.”
Nikki joined the SPEA Alumni Board of Directors in mid-2008. She is also president of the IU Alumni Association Chapter in Washington, D.C., and helps SPEA with various events in the D.C. area.
Nikki welcomes students to contact her by email.
John Zody, BSPA '01
These days, there seem to be only three words uttered inside the beltway-health care reform-and with a boss who is the leader of the Blue Dogs and a big voice in the health care debate, John Zody, Rep. Baron Hill's (IN-D) new Chief of Staff, has been christened by fire. So many constituents are reaching out to Hill’s offices, telephone lines are jammed and mail is overflowing. “The health care debate is fully on … knowing how important this issue is, our staff was prepared and it’s an ‘all hands on deck’ atmosphere,” Zody says.
Rep. Hill named 32-year-old Zody Chief of Staff in February, bringing this Martinsville native to the infamous culture of politics in Washington D.C. Although calling D.C. home is new to Zody, he’s certainly no political neophyte. He has worked in Indiana government at nearly every level, and most recently served as Rep. Hill’s district director in the southern Indiana Ninth District.
Prior to working for Hill, he worked for governors O’Bannon and Kernan, both in their offices and on their campaigns. He began working for Gov. O’Bannon in 2000, and was able to hone his campaign management skills. He takes pride in his SPEA degree, and he doesn’t forget the impact it had on his career. He says it taught him practical applications in policy – not just theoretical aspects.
“I take a look at the Capitol dome and realize that what is done out here – despite the political nature of everything – it really is something that can be great and do some real good for the country,” Zody says.
Alyce Robertson, MPA '79
In her 30 years as a Miami resident, Alyce Robertson has seen her home grow from a laid-back warm-weather destination to a booming hub for hot, tropical nightlife.Now, she helps oversee the growth of this bustling tourist town working as Executive Director of the Miami Downtown Development Authority. Her agency, which has served the city of Miami since 1965, raises funds ($13 billion in the past four years) to develop the downtown area by improving travel and economic development.
While Robertson was just appointed to the Development Authority in 2008 after working in several local government departments, downtown Miami has been growing astronomically with 23,000 new condos built in the last five years. Because young newcomers want to live in the city’s epicenter of nightlife and beaches, she says it’s vital to improve green spaces and “walkability” in Miami’s burgeoning urban area.
The South Bend native who almost got an MBA from the Kelley School of Business before “giving policy a try” says she loves her job because she “can be a catalyst for change in getting things done.” And she gets to organize ultra-hip projects like the DWNTWN Miami Concert Series (voted “Best Concert Series” by the Miami New Times) featuring world-renowned acts like Cuban jazz trumpeter Arturo Sandoval. This SPEA alumna has a pretty cool gig.
Alyce Robertson also holds a degree in Spanish and Portuguese from IUB.
Kathy Weaver, MPA '89
Whether she’s standing in store parking lots researching the use of child safety seats in motor vehicles or behind her desk searching for grant funds, Kathy Weaver saves lives.Weaver’s work for the Automotive Safety Program at Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis is just one of many achievements in this distinguished alumna’s career.
Her more than 30 years in the health care field—ranging from working as a nurse to teaching doctoral students for the School of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences—were recognized early this year when IUPUI bestowed her with the Maynard K. Hine Award. The award (which boasts pretty impressive past recipients such as former IU President Myles Brand and the late IU Chancellor Herman B Wells) is given to notable alumni who make significant contributions in society. Additionally, she serves on the IUPUI SPEA Alumni Council.
With degrees also in nursing and law, and the founder of the Public Health Nurse chapter of the Indiana State Nurses Association, we couldn’t help but ask Weaver what she thinks of the current health care debate.
“Whatever funding is legislated by Congress to provide health insurance for those who are under or uninsured should be equal to the amount spent on public health prevention messages and services,” Weaver says.
Even though Weaver can delve into serious policy talk, she is also a music fan –she enjoys listening to jazz, playing the piano, and recently took up the banjo.
Amy Farrell, MPA '00
Amy Farrell has gone from the national government to the corporate boardroom in her career since leaving SPEA. She was associate director for Environment and Regulation at the White House Council on Environmental Quality before being tapped in 2008 for Special Assistant to the President for Economic Policy at the National Economic Council. Farrell currently is a Corporate Issues Advisor at ExxonMobil.Mary Ann Sullivan, MPA '00
As a member of the Indiana state legislature, Indianapolis’s Mary Ann Sullivan wants education policy to score high.Elected in November 2008 to represent Indiana’s 97th District, (which encompasses downtown and the near south side of Indianapolis) Rep. Sullivan survived a fiery first session for the State House and worked to get funding for education in a tumultuous 2009 budget debate.
So how does she grade the state’s education funding? Sullivan would liked to have seen more state funds go toward all schools, doing the best Indiana can even with current state revenues. “It’s difficult to judge how well we’ve done on (education) until we get through the next few years,” she says.
Sullivan acknowledges it was a difficult session for the freshman class. Even though nothing is normal in state politics, she says it was reassuring to have so many veteran legislators tell her they’ve never been through a session like that.
Throughout her professional career Sullivan has worked for several education and child-based organizations including: the Christel DeHaan Family Foundation, Indiana Department of Education, Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce, and Indianapolis Public Schools. She says having grandchildren for the first time strengthened her concern for future generations and played a major role in her decision to run for the seat.
Along with her work as a state representative, Sullivan works as a consultant with the University of Indianapolis Center of Excellence in Leadership of Learning. The center works to evaluate the state’s system for funding the K-12 education and toward educational innovation.
Paul Jackson, MPA '06
The National Academies is comprised of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, the Institute of Medicine, and the National Research Council. The Academies provide independent, objective advice on issues that affect people's lives worldwide. As study director, Jackson develops statement of tasks for study issues, forms a study committee of experts, contributes to and edits the committee's report, sends the report for peer review, releases it to the sponsoring agency, and then releases it to the public. He is currently working with committees on topics ranging from the deflection of asteroids approaching earth to the revitalization of state economies.Zach Graber, MPA '09
Zach Graber is originally from Virginia Beach, Virginia, but prior to coming to SPEA, his job with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) took him all over the country. He lived in Alabama; Richmond, Virginia; Los Angeles; Orlando; and Iowa as an emergency relief worker.Zach graduated from James Madison University in 2004 with a Bachelor of Science in Communications and Public Relations. He joined a small software company, working in their marketing department, but did not feel as if it was the right fit for him. That led him to apply for the FEMA position in 2005, right after Hurricane Katrina had hit. He was hired in less than a week, and was soon in Alabama.
After almost two years of a job filled with traveling and changing roles, Zach began looking for a graduate school. “I had reached a plateau at my position, and I knew I needed to develop the harder quantitative skills of math and finance to complement my PR degree,” he said. This led Zach to SPEA and to the public finance and international affairs concentrations.
“SPEA is the perfect blend between public policy and public administration,” he said. “The school gives you the opportunity to learn not only how to make good policy, but to implement the policy you make.”
Zach is very involved as a student. He currently is co–chair of the annual Spring SPEA auction, an event providing funding for first–year master’s students’ internships. In addition, he works for the Bloomington Housing Authority through Service Corps and he serves as the second–year MPA representative for the Graduate Student Association. Zach was also invited to speak with the Board of Visitors in regards to the new dean’s agenda.
This past summer, Zach worked with the Office of Management and Budget with the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. He hopes to pursue a career in government and international financial policy.
Chris Rohrer, MSES '83
"I thrive on the many facets of the work and the varied challenges, such as trying to figure out how to safeguard a shaft while preserving the historic headframe above it and protecting bat habitat inside," says Rohrer. "There is a tangible sense of accomplishment in that."To read Loving our jobs! by Chris go here.
Melissa Spencer, MAAA '03
Melissa Spencer graduated from SPEA in 2003 with a Master of Arts in Arts Administration. She came to SPEA directly after graduating from Minnesota State University Moorhead with a Bachelor of Music in Music Industry and Violin Performance. Melissa has always been passionate about music and as she developed an interest in business through her undergraduate career, she recognized that the MAAA was the right choice for her. Melissa selected the MAAA program at IU due to the reputation of SPEA, the Kelley School of Business and the Jacobs School of Music.“The great faculty, along with the multidisciplinary course structure, provided the perfect opportunity to work alongside current and future business executives, nonprofit leaders and musical professionals alike,” Melissa said.
Melissa was very involved during her time at IU. She spent time working with the Bloomington Area Arts Council, the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, the Columbus Indiana Philharmonic, the Indiana University Foundation, the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, and the Buselli Wallarab Jazz Orchestra.
“Working side by side with professionals in a variety of organizations gave me the opportunity to learn about the many different careers you can pursue in arts administration, as well as the chance to network with experts in the field,” she said.
Melissa currently works as an Assistant Director of Development at the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, where she manages Institutional Support.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact Melissa Spencer.
Katy Hall, MAAA '06
Katy Hall graduated from SPEA in 2006 with a Master of Arts in Arts Administration, specializing in Opera Administration. Katy graduated from University of Notre Dame in 2004 with a B.A. in Honors History and Political Science. She was attracted to SPEA’s MAAA program because it gave her the opportunity to pursue her interests while taking classes from one of the top nonprofit programs in the nation. After an internship with a museum’s public relations department in Washington, D.C., in the summer of 2003, she knew that this path of study was the best choice.“I grew up as a performer,” Katy said, “but after college I realized that my calling was ‘backstage’ on the administration side and IU has such a well–rounded program that allows graduate students to examine all areas of the field.”
She advises incoming and prospective students to take advantage of every opportunity within the program and within the Bloomington community. “I was able to gain experience at a level that is not always found in a graduate program. It has served me well as an alumna,” she said.
Currently, Katy is the Foundation Relations Manager for the Lyric Opera of Chicago (her “dream company”). She was previously employed as the Director of Corporate Relations at Steppenwolf Theatre Company.
Sharon Kioko, MPA '04 and Ph.D., Public Affairs '08
Bloomington, Indiana is a long way from Nairobi, Kenya. Sharon Kioko was both excited and anxious as she prepared to leave her job as an accountant at the World Agroforestry Center to start a master’s program at IU SPEA. She knew she was choosing the right school to kick-start her career in public finance – she’d done the research to find the top-ranked program – but she didn’t know how she would adjust to an environment so different from her homeland. “I didn’t know if I would be able to fit in,” she recalls. “I had reservations about how well and how fast I would be able to adapt.”
As soon as she arrived at SPEA, though, all that anxiety melted away. Her cohort of fellow graduate students provided an instant community that embraced and supported her on her academic journey. “I developed such a good network of friends,” she says. “Once I was here, I was never lost or alone.”
Kioko’s leap of faith paid off beyond the master’s program. After receiving Outstanding Student Achievement Awards both years of her master’s, she applied and was accepted to the PhD program at the school, receiving funding for tuition and a stipend. Coming from a developing country, Kioko says she wouldn’t otherwise have had the opportunity to continue her studies at IU and fulfill her dream of becoming a researcher.
Her sponsorship carried with it many responsibilities. In addition to taking classes and teaching in the undergraduate program, she worked with Craig Johnson and Maureen Pirog on a number of research projects. “Between the two of them, they kept me quite busy,” she laughs. “It was a great learning experience - they were fantastic mentors that were supportive of my learning process. The work that I did, I did because I was eager to learn.”
Kioko’s research focused on state-level fiscal institutions – specifically state-level spending limits. She discovered that in most cases, there was no enforcement mechanism for state spending limits. In fact, most states don’t have a formal reporting process that could make taxpayers aware of actual spending with respect to pre-determined spending limits. Worse yet, those that do have spending limits in place have shifted their current spending off-budget through the use of long term debt. In her more recent work, Kioko has found that county governments with these spending limits are increasingly relying on these long-term obligations to meet current service demands.
Upon her graduation in 2008, Kioko accepted an appointment as an assistant professor of Public Administration at the Maxwell School of Syracuse University, where she is also a Senior Research Associate at the Center for Policy Research. Although she admits she “would have preferred a warmer location,” she’s delighted to have found what she calls “a really good fit.”
Her training at SPEA, she says, prepared her well by allowing her to gain a great deal of insight into her specific area of interest. “One thing I really enjoyed about SPEA is the fact that you can actually specialize,” she says. “The diversity of faculty and course offerings helps you hone in on your interests. I was able to start my career with a lot of knowledge about my subject area, so I was well prepared for an academic career.”
Martin Luby, Ph.D., Public Affairs '10
“Why would you leave a lucrative job on Wall Street to study public affairs?” It’s a question recent SPEA graduate Martin Luby is often asked about his career path. Most people can’t imagine advancing from an analyst position at Bear Stearns to senior vice president at a leading financial strategies firm in Chicago, only to give it all up for an academic career. But then to choose public affairs over business school? That move doesn’t seem financially strategic at all.
For Luby, though, public finance has always been an enriching topic. From his first position as a financial analyst through his senior executive role, he always focused on municipal and other government projects, forgoing corporate mergers for public-private partnerships and tax-exempt bonds. The payoff came from helping struggling government agencies stay afloat and finding ways to successfully merge the public and private sectors.
After a decade of this work, however, Luby became more interested in the processes underlying these operations than in the contracts themselves.
“I got tired of working on deals and transactions,” he says. “I was more interested in the policy end of public finance where it intersects with public management. A lot of my experience was in consulting with debt managers, and I was interested in why they made their decisions – what their influences and incentive structures were.”
Luby started searching for the best institution at which to pursue this type of research, and was blown away by SPEA faculty members like Craig Johnson, John Mikesell, and Kurt Zorn. He was also thrilled to discover that SPEA, unlike any other school he found, offered courses in his interest area of debt finance. With two children at home, he couldn’t quit working to enroll in the program, but he was determined to get the best education possible. So, for several years, Luby commuted from Chicago to Bloomington to attend SPEA.
“I was still working in Chicago, but I’d leave on a Sunday and come back home on Wednesday night,” he recalls. “It was tough, but it’s all about compartmentalizing. When I was down at SPEA I was just doing graduate work. Then I’d circle back and make sure I was tending to my business and my family. I was willing to do it because the program was such a draw. I knew I was getting the training to be a top-quality researcher.”
At SPEA, Luby focused on debt management within state and municipal governments, specifically examining the sale of bonds to generate capital. He used this information, however, to ask larger questions about the behavior of public managers and whether standard economic models were sufficient to describe the public sector.
“The traditional economic theories that try to explain public management behavior didn’t resonate with my professional experience,” he explains. “People have been using models that assume that public managers and elected officials make decisions after their own financial self-interest, but I haven’t found that to be true. In my research, I found public managers to be much more focused on maximizing long-term resources for the common good.”
Luby’s out-of-the-box thinking earned him lecturer positions at the University of Illinois at Chicago while he was still completing his PhD. Now that he has finished, he’s headed to the John Glenn School of Public Affairs at The Ohio State University as an assistant professor.
It’s been an exhausting journey, but Luby has no regrets. “I wouldn’t do anything differently,” he says. “I can’t speak highly enough of SPEA. It was an intense few years balancing everything, but it was the right choice, definitely.”
Stephanie Moulton, Ph.D., Public Affairs '08
Stephanie Moulton was working for an Indiana nonprofit housing and community development organization when she began to see the writing on the wall. It was still early in the millennium, and the housing market was booming, but she had an unusual vantage point from which to see the coming crash. Increasingly, when her agency would offer low-income individuals a chance to qualify for an affordable mortgage through an educational program, they would instead choose the quick fix of a subprime loan that Moulton knew would eventually leave them bankrupt and potentially homeless.“It frustrated me so much. These individuals were being deceived. We’d end up seeing the same people come back to us for foreclosure counseling,” she says. “I felt at the time that those of us in the field knew what was happening, but there was nothing that could be done to stop it.”
Moulton’s desire to uncover the public policies and initiatives that might help the situation led her to pursue a master’s degree in public administration at Ball State. Soon after, however, she became intrigued by the faculty at IU SPEA. “I truly respected what David Reingold and Les Lenkowsky were writing about housing and low income households,” she recalls, so she looked into transferring to IU.
When she talked with Lenkowsky about her plans, however, he convinced her to apply directly to the doctoral program. He could see how her interests would translate into research that fit well within SPEA’s areas of expertise. His support and that of other faculty members persuaded her that even though she was still working and had kids at home, she belonged in the PhD program at SPEA.
Once accepted, Moulton hit the ground running. She put together a dissertation topic examining how public initiatives could support low-income homebuyers through a complex web of both public and private actors in the mortgage lending industry.
“What I began to see was that one of the most critical determinants of success or failure of low-income homeownership initiatives was the institutions – both public and private – that were part of the home buying process,” she says.
Not long after she arrived at SPEA, the market crashed. And while that was in some ways good news for Moulton – at last, the country was interested in what she had to say – the economic collapse didn’t spare her family. Her husband, an elementary school teacher, couldn’t find work, and when his mother died that same year, it seemed like pursuing her doctorate was another risky bet in an unstable market.
“I was ready to quit,” she says. “I thought it might be best to switch back to an MPA and just be done.” Her mentors, however, wouldn’t let her off easy. “David Reingold said to me, ‘You can leave if you need to, but you have such great potential as a researcher. I think it’s a waste of amazing talent. I really want you to think hard about this.’”
Their faith in her capabilities motivated Moulton to plow through the rough patch and go on to distinguish herself as a rising star in her field. In addition to authoring or co-authoring several dozen articles, book chapters, and conference presentations, she also received numerous grants and honors that enabled her to dig even deeper with her research. Upon completion of her PhD, she received a job offer from the John Glenn School of Public Affairs at The Ohio State University, where she now teaches.
As she continues her research on housing finance and ways to educate home buyers, she looks back on her crisis of confidence as the moment when SPEA faculty changed the course of her life.
“They saw talent in me that, at that point, I wasn’t able to see in myself,” she says. “Another school might have said, ‘Okay, this is part of the weed-them-out process.’ But it’s not like that at SPEA. Once you’re there, they really want you to succeed.”
Eva Witesman, MPA '04 and Ph.D., Public Affairs '09
To say that Eva Witesman has a busy schedule would be a massive understatement. The recent SPEA graduate is an assistant professor at the Romney School of Public Management at Brigham Young University, where she’s involved in numerous research projects ranging from disaster response volunteerism to public service configurations. Her commitment to teaching, meanwhile, earned her a teacher of the year award last year from her students. She has three children, recently served as the Parent Community Council President for her eldest’s charter school, and loves to paint –one of her works was selected for display at a local art museum. She also describes herself as an “avid gardener.” Such a rich lifestyle would be impossible were it not for what she learned at SPEA, Witesman says. By giving her opportunities in both teaching and research while she pursued her PhD, the program enabled her to learn time management and a high level of proficiency in all aspects of academia.
“I love that my SPEA education has given me the skills to have some freedom even during my first few years as an assistant professor,” she says. “This is usually a time when people are just trying to keep their heads above water, but my mentorship from SPEA has helped me do much more than that.”
Witesman first came to SPEA not long after finishing her bachelor’s degree in university studies at the University of Utah. She was working for a nonprofit software design company when she decided to pursue a master’s in public affairs.
“I looked back over my short life up to that point and realized the consistent theme running through it was public service,” she says. So she opened up U.S. News and World Report, saw that SPEA was ranked number one among public affairs programs, and “applied there and only there.”
IU was also a great fit because it enabled her husband to study Finnish, a language taught in only a handful of universities. As the couple prepared for the move to Indiana, however, Witesman learned she was pregnant. She spent much of her first year in the program feeling sick and sleepy, but still managed to distinguish herself academically. She graduated in the top ten percent of her class despite caring for a newborn.
On Witesman’s last day of classes for her MPA, one of her instructors presented her PhD research to the students. For Witesman, it was a revelation. “I lit up,” she recalls. “I realized I wanted to be a researcher.”
The family was headed to Finland for a year, so Witesman applied to the PhD program remotely. Soon she was back at IU, immersed in a range of research topics that included civil service training, the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, and disaster volunteerism in response to flooding in the Midwest. By her third year, she had amassed such an impressive portfolio that she was invited to apply to BYU although she hadn’t even begun her dissertation.
“In the course of three days I wrote a dissertation proposal, put a committee together, and went out to interview,” she says. “It was madness.”
Witesman clearly wowed the committee, who not only offered her the job but also gave her an extra semester to finish her dissertation before she began teaching. She gives credit to SPEA, however, for a well-deserved reputation that has a way of opening doors.
“All you have to say is, ‘I was educated in public administration at Indiana University,’ and search committees start salivating,” she says. “It’s not just me – I look at all my peers from SPEA and I can see how they’ve also succeeded. Those rankings are meaningful. It’s not just a number. It reflects the quality of the faculty and the education you receive.”