OHIO’s MPA program shaped Nate Strum’s path to economic development

After studying at a university that specializes in training public servants, Nate Strum took that mindset into the private sector, where he now helps drive economic development.

Strum received his master of public administration (MPA) at Ohio University through the Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Service in 2020, and credits what he learned in this program with his success.

“Going to OHIO aligned with what I wanted to work on professionally,” Strum said about his choice to attend OHIO. “At the time, I was working as an executive director for a nonprofit but was looking at city management opportunities and public governance roles. I found that the curriculum and the experience, the practical side of the courses, really spoke to me.”

Strum graduated from the MPA program in 2020 but walked the stage in 2021 when OHIO reopened following COVID-19.

Today, Strum works at HDR, a fully integrated architectural engineering firm, as its director of economic development. In this role, he brings the public mindset he learned at OHIO into the private sector.

“I understand a lot of the public sector issues,” Strum said. “I understand their obstacles. I understand their challenges, especially with providing public value and public good.”

Although Strum no longer works in the public eye, he often finds himself bridging the gap between the public and private sectors using the knowledge he learned at OHIO. At HDR, he provides insight into how relationships between companies are driven, the process behind it, and the role of the government in decision making.

This transition from the public sector to the work he does today at HDR was made possible by OHIO and the MPA curriculum.

“OHIO taught me to work in the macro, but implement it in the micro,” Strum said.

The MPA program has impacted Strum both professionally and personally. When he was first looking at master’s programs, the OHIO alumni network spoke to him. According to Strum, he was drawn in by the number of people who had gone through the program willing to share their pathways.

Since graduating, Strum has stayed in contact and created his own close network of alumni he shared a classroom with.

“I still keep in touch with a handful of my classmates, and we still bounce things off of each other in the same way that we did in the classroom,” Strum said.

This sense of connection is a small part of the broader perspective on how his experience at OHIO continues to shape his path.

“I still pinch myself on a regular basis about what's happened to me since I left OHIO,” Strum said. “But it's a testament to how the market and the economy is shifting, and we really are pushing for people who can think more strategically, explore the bigger pictures, and help move folks along. That's what I think the Voinovich School prepared me for more than anything.”