My Background and My Internship

This is the first internship experience I have had and it seems to be rather interesting thus far. My internship is with the City of Phoenix's Government Relations department. This department is part of the City Manager's office and works on behalf of the city's interests with regard to federal, state and local issues.

I am currently in my last semester of the MPA program at Arizona State. Prior to my internship I have worked exclusively in the private sector for US Airways, National Instruments and CVS/Caremark. All of my positions were some derivative of being an Analyst (Business, Pricing, etc) and my undergraduate degree is in Financial Management from Northern Michigan University (or as it is lovingly described "NMU: Where the 'N' Stands for Knowledge").

I am looking forward to the opportunity to work with the Government Relations department. My description above was intentionally vague: to describe the wide array of issues they work on would be near impossible. The behind-the-scenes view of governance will be an education in it of itself.