Natalie Cohen is a senior fellow at the Milken Institute. She is also the founder and president of National Municipal Research, an independent consulting and research company focused on US state and local government finance. She publishes at The Public Purse.

A seasoned analyst, writer, and speaker, she started her career at New York City’s Office of Management and Budget, has worked at a rating agency, in bond insurance, reinsurance, and a bank, and is known for her published work on municipal bond defaults. She was recognized by the Bond Buyer as a “trailblazer” and has received career achievement awards from Smith’s Research & Gradings and the National Federation of Municipal Analysts (NFMA).

Cohen has an MPA from New York University’s Wagner School of Public Service and a BA from Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts. She was a member of the Government Accounting Standards Advisory Council, and a board member and co-director of the education committee of the NFMA. She served several terms as advisor to the Government Finance Officers Association’s budget committee and the Committee on Retirement Benefits Administration. Cohen is currently a director on the board of Build America Mutual, a bond insurer, and chairs an audit committee. Cohen has also worked with RiskBridge as an outsourced chief investment officer who advises on asset allocation for not-for-profit entities, pension plans, insurance companies, and family offices.