Congratulations and Good Luck, Katie Nelson!

I cannot believe this is Katie’s last full week with us.  I cannot believe we won’t see her smiling, intelligent face every day here at PolicyMap.  I cannot believe I actually offered to write this blog post… 

Katie Nelson – one of our earliest hires at PolicyMap – is leaving us.  Sure, she is leaving us to attend Rutgers University’s Bloustein School to earn her PhD.  Sure, she received a full scholarship.  Sure, it is an amazing path for her future.  But we can’t help ourselves.  We behave like small children when we whine “what about us?” 

Katie has been instrumental in all things related to PolicyMap –  from analyzing data, to developing new product features, to managing groundbreaking projects like www.cultureblocks.com, to running our NSP work with the Department of Housing and Urban Development, to managing the installation of a city wide instance of PolicyMap for the City of Philadelphia.  But even more than all of this,  she has been part of an incredible team which has grown from 3 people to 11 people and will soon become 16 people. 

And, so, while we have convinced her to stay on with us as a Fellow, working with us on projects from time-to-time, it won’t be the same. 

Who will… 

–      Be late for work because she gave her toddler the car keys while standing on top of a sewer grate;

–      Sustain a hematoma on her leg while skiing and come into work the next day insisting everything is fine (really);

–      Have her mother drive her My Little Pony collection to Philly from Washington so that she could bomb Phil Vu’s office;

–      Debate the differences among Swedish Fish (large and small), gummy bears and Fruit Roll-ups; 

–      Analyze Sunday night’s episode of the Walking Dead with us on Monday mornings.  We are really going to feel this one. OMG. It won’t be the same. 

Okay, I should stop.  We are saying good-bye, but not forever.  She is going to rock Rutgers and we wish her much success with PhD.  She deserves every minute of it and we hope she’ll be back to us as Dr. Katharine Nelson.  She is a star.