Rachel Barkley is the National Federation of Municipal Analysts' chair for 2022, a position she hopes will enable the group to provide more in-person educational opportunities and engage more with younger members as they navigate their way out of the COVID-19 pandemic.
She began her new role in January,
“We’re definitely hoping to provide more in-person education,” said Barkley, who is a managing director at Loop Capital. “Along with that, we’re always going to be continuing our work encouraging best practices, industry collaboration and communication and outreach,” she said. “One of the efforts that has been getting underway for the past few years is new member advancement. We really want to help junior and mid-career members find their place at the NFMA table.”
Barkley has always had a keen interest in government and finance, and began her foray into the muni industry while studying for her masters of public administration at the University of Pennsylvania, while simultaneously interning at Public Financial Management.
Once she graduated, that turned into a full-time consultant position with PFM, where she stayed for a few years before moving over to the ratings side to become a local government analyst at Fitch Ratings in New York. It was then that she first became a member of the NFMA.
During this time she also began attending the local Municipal Analysts Group of New York’s events to situate herself deeper in the muni industry. After over four years at Fitch, she made the move to Chicago where she worked as a municipal credit analyst at Morningstar beginning in 2011.
She then began attending the Chicago Municipal Society events, and when she made the move over to Loop Capital in 2014, eventually became a board member for the Chicago Municipal Society.
“I also started participating as a speaker at events, seminars and the annual conference, which piqued my interest to get more involved with the NFMA,” Barkley said. “That led me to apply and thankfully be voted in as a member at large to the NFMA board.”
She served on the board for a year before being appointed the co-chair of advanced seminars. “I applied for secretary from there and then have moved up the chain to my current position as chair,” Barkley said.
In its push to get its name out there in front of prospective members, NFMA began beta testing an NFMA Mentorship Program last year and will be rolling that out with more details later this year. NFMA also launched a diversity, equity and inclusion committee, in hopes of having the NFMA board and speakers at the group's panels represent analysts across the board, Barkley said.
“The NFMA members are really the core of our organization and make the NFMA all that it can be and we’re very appreciative of them,” Barkley said. “We’re hoping to make sure that everyone who would like to be more engaged and take more of a role at the NFMA is able to this year or as soon as possible.”
NFMA will be holding at least two membership calls this year that any member can call into and ask any questions.
“Personally, I definitely would like this to be an open door,” Barkley said. “If any member has any questions or concerns or would like to discuss anything, I definitely would encourage them to contact me directly.”
