Susan Shaffer manages a portfolio of highly complex higher education and nonprofit institutions across the United States, particularly in the northeastern and southern US. She also oversees the department’s nonprofit sector and special credit and operations projects. In addition, Susan is a regular speaker at a variety of industry conferences and has become widely recognized as one of the leading voices for higher education and nonprofit organization credit nationally. Her authorship of research pieces covers topics such as the higher education outlook, leadership and governance challenges, pricing strategies, and self-liquidity issuance.

Prior to joining Moody’s, Susan managed financial incentive programs that support New York State businesses and major institutions as part of New York State’s economic development agency, Empire State Development. Her higher education sector expertise includes roles in admissions and marketing at Tulane University and New York University. Susan holds an MBA from New York University’s Stern School of Business and a BA in Classics from Tulane University.

Dan Kowalski is an AVP-Analyst on the State Ratings Team, covering credits for the states of Georgia, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Indiana, Missouri, Oklahoma, Mississippi and New Hampshire as well as mass transit and federal lease credits. Dan was previously an analyst on the Chicago Local Governments Team.

Prior to joining Moody’s, Dan worked in prison education for the State of New Jersey. Dan holds a BA in Politics from Princeton University and an MPP in Municipal Finance and Economic Policy from the University of Chicago Harris School.

Ben is a Vice President on the Midwest Regional Ratings Team covering local government credits in states across the Midwest portfolio, with a focus on Minnesota, Wisconsin and Ohio. Ben has published on a variety of topics including pension reform, fixed costs, school funding reform, cybersecurity, various developments in the charter school sector and the credit impacts public hospitals can have on large urban counties. In his leadership role, Ben chairs rating committees, supports workflow management and is a mentor for analysts on the Chicago team. Ben is a regular speaker and panelist at industry conferences and webinars, and he is an active member of the charter school task force. 

Prior to joining Moody’s, Ben was the Director of Pension Reform at the Illinois Policy Institute, a research organization. Ben holds a MA degree in Economics from George Mason University and a BA degree in Economics and Management from Beloit College.

Geordie Thompson leads the Charter School and Municipal Supported Products Teams. Prior to this role, Geordie was an analytic lead for the Methodology Development Group (MDG), where he specialized in developing the analytical frameworks used by MIS in assigning ratings to US public finance, project finance and corporate finance issuers and obligations. In this role, Geordie lead a broad range of projects, including updates to the Higher Education and US Special Tax sector methodologies, several Housing Finance and MSPG methodologies, and the Financial Statement Adjustments in the Analysis of Non-Financial Corporations cross-sector methodology, which serves as a foundation for our analysis of financial metrics. 

Before joining MDG, Geordie spent 16 years in the US local government group as an analyst and managing a local government team, with overall responsibility for ratings and research on local government credits in most of the eastern US. Before joining Moody’s in 2000, Geordie worked in non-profit fundraising in Chicago, including as manager of Corporate & Foundation Giving at public television station WTTW. Geordie has a bachelor’s degree in English from Columbia University and a master’s degree in public administration from Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs. 

Andrew Van Dyck Dobos manages a nationwide portfolio of charter schools. Prior to joining the dedicated charter school team, he worked as a local government analyst, serving as the state lead for Michigan, Ohio, South Dakota, and Nebraska. Andrew holds a Master of Public Policy (MPP) from the Harris School at the University of Chicago and dual Bachelor of Arts degrees in Political Science and Sociology from Michigan State University.