Peter Christensen launched his writing career as an undergrad working for The Daily Universe. He was promoted from sports reporter to editor and then to editor-in-chief filling numerous other positions while on staff. "If I had my druthers, I might have ended up being a sports writer," Christensen said.
Instead, he chose to write about a topic he could "support a family on and that would serve as a greater impact on society," he said. That's where Christensen's MPA degree came in handy.
Christensen is editor of Government Finance Review the leading journal in the field of public financial management. Christensen said his MPA education provided him with the knowledge of the public sector and government finance necessary to fill the position. "That's what attracted them to hire me I understood the editorial as well as the technical aspects," he said. "That combo made me an attractive candidate."
"This is the fastest I've seen someone go from a 'who's he?' to a 'who's who' [in government finance]," said Lennis Knighton, professor of public management at the Romney Institute of Public Management. Christensen was Knighton's graduate assistant for a year while an MPA student. "I've never worked with anyone who wrote better," Knighton said of Christensen. "He will probably have as much influence as anyone in America on the development of literature in the field of government financial management."
Government Finance Review, headquartered in Chicago, has a circulation of fifteen thousand that caters to state and local government finance officers, academics, and private-sector consultants.
Before his editorial position, Christensen was an accountant for the City of Sierra Vista, Arizona. He earned his undergraduate degree in 1998 from BYU in public relations and his MPA from the Marriott School in 2000. He and his wife, Allyson, reside in Naperville, Illinois, with their two children.
