Home > Graduate > MBA > News > White House
On the Road to the White House
On her first day working in the White House, Jennifer Swartz, a dual-degree MBA/Masters in International Development student says, "They handed me this very large book with very thin pages and fine print and told me to read it to better understand the role of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP). I knew then, that my education had prepared me well, and I could hit the ground running." It took Swartz three days to digest the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) book and become conversant on the material. She then got to be part of the team that evaluates revisions to those regulations.
Swartz was among 40 interns hired this past summer by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to work in Washington, D.C. The difference between Swartz and the other 39 interns is that at the end of her internship, she was offered a full-time career position as a procurement program specialist with the OFPP that she accepted and will begin upon her graduation in December.
Swartz has what might be described as a full-steam-ahead outlook. The 2003 salutatorian from Milton High School in central Pennsylvania, Swartz earned a BA in economics/mathematics and a BA in political science from Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 2007. Following graduation, she immediately began pursuit of an MBA/MID degree offered jointly by the Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business and the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs here at the University of Pittsburgh.
During her internship at the White House, Swartz had many opportunities to showcase her MBA and MID skills, including drafting a government-wide memorandum, briefing senior political officials on current costing models used for government outsourcing decisions, compiling research on contractor inventory models used by different executive branch agencies, and attending briefings with foreign diplomats to discuss best practices between government procurement offices in the United States and their respective countries.
Besides her work on the FAR book, Swartz also worked extensively on OFPP's response to President Obama's March 4 memorandum on government contracting, which called on federal agencies to eliminate waste and maximize the value achieved from their contracts. The memorandum stated that OFPP would give agencies guidance on implementation strategies for reforming government contracting. Swartz helped prepare for a public meeting about the president's memorandum. She was even able to put her public speaking skills to use when she was asked during that meeting, to give a student's perspective on acquisition workforce issues.
With her first professional position awaiting her, Swartz is confident and well prepared for whatever comes next.