Alumni in the News
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced Jen Flood, who earned her Master of Public Policy in the MSU Department of Political Science in the College of Social Science, will lead the State Budget Office as its new director beginning in mid-November after Chris Harkins accepted a new position outside of state government.
Sarah Cantwell, along with her husband Matthew, received the Alumni Service Award, given to alumni who have demonstrated service to MSU and/or meritorious public service on a local, state, national or international level. Sarah earned her master’s in public administration from the College in 2005, while Matthew is a 2004 graduate of the Eli Broad College of Business. They are known as dedicated community leaders, philanthropists and Spartans.
InnovateGov Program Coodinator Chayse Hurley was presented with a College of Social Science Young Alumni award in the fall of 2023. Chayse Hurley is a Political Science-Prelaw, Political Science Scholar and Master of Public Policy alumna. After graduating, she joined Teach for America and taught Secondary Science in Detroit.
Elias Kokaly, an Anti-Money Laundering Specialist, is the Head of Deployment Strategy at TRM Labs, a blockchain analytics company that provides anti-financial crime solutions to crypto businesses, financial institutions and government agencies. In this role, Elias ensures TRM’s public and private sector clients are successful - whether establishing a risk-based anti-money laundering program, to efficiently conducting crypto investigations. Prior to joining TRM, Elias was Special Investigations Team Lead at cryptocurrency exchange Bittrex. In this role Elias led a team engaged in complex investigations, acted as a law enforcement liaison and managed special projects.
Elias graduated in 2018 with a BA in World politics from MSU.