Matt Dias remembered a frenetic day observing a city manager’s office in action while in grad school at American University.

A huge argument over what to do with the marina at Annapolis, Maryland, along with thinking through parking rates, a fire breaking out at an elementary school, sorting through different types of fertilizer for the recreation fields according to the hazards involved.

And that evening going to a city council meeting and watching a spat over city finances. The council also brainstormed how to improve their bond rating and the cool things they could do with the savings.

This was kid-in-a-candy-store stuff for a finance guy toiling as an analyst deep in the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics while pursuing his master’s in public administration.

“I was like, ‘Whoa, this i

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