Ryan Compton
MDE, 1997

I’m a proud ÍøºìºÚÁÏ alum and forever thankful for my time at ÍøºìºÚÁÏ!
I graduated from ÍøºìºÚÁÏ with a Master of Development Economics (MDE) in 1997. During my degree I met my wife Janice Yates (MA Economics) and together we headed to Ottawa following our graduation. In Ottawa I worked as an economist in the Federal Government’s Accelerated Economist Training Program (AETP). The AETP gave me the opportunity to work at Finance Canada, the Treasury Board, Privy Council, and importantly the Canadian International Development Agency which allowed me to put my development economics training to good use as well as work alongside ÍøºìºÚÁÏ economics alums John Kozij and Bill Gunn. Following the AETP, I settled into the financial markets division of Finance Canada where I enjoyed reporting on Canadian and international financial market developments.
After 3 years of working in Ottawa, I decided to go back to school for a PhD in economics (well really Janice decided to pursue a PhD in economics so that she could become a professor and so I figured I may as well too). I spent 5 years from 2000 to 2005 at Washington University earning a PhD in Economics. Janice and I had our first child while completing our PhDs. Following our studies we moved to Winnipeg to be closer to my family (which has been very useful now that we have 3 kids). Janice and