Michelle Schwartz PPS’98 Found her Flight Path with Policy and People

Michelle Schwartz (PPS’98) did not set out to build a career in aviation.

For nearly two decades, she saw herself as something else entirely: a policy generalist. She moved through roles that spanned the federal government, working across issues, institutions, and branches. Each step added to a growing toolkit rooted in analysis, communication, and relationships, the kind of foundation she first built at Duke’s Sanford School of Public Policy.

Only later, after years of navigating policy at the highest levels, did she find the field that would ultimately define her work.

“I wasn’t always a transportation person,” Schwartz said. “But once I got to the Federal Aviation Administration, the jet fuel got in my blood.”

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A place to land at Duke

Schwartz arrived at Duke already drawn to politics, but looking for something more structured. The public policy major offered exactly that: a way to pair her interest in government with a more analytical, quantitative approach.

“I had always been a political junkie,” she said. “And when I learned about this major that combined my love of politics with a more analytical bent, that fit the way my brain works.” She was also part of a formative moment in Sanford’s history, among the first class to spend all four years in the newly dedicated building. For Schwartz, that physical space quickly became something more. “Sanford created that smaller place within Duke for me,” she said. “It became the place that I felt most at home on campus.”

That sense of belonging, and the relationships that came with it, stayed with her long after graduation. She still counts friendships from her time as a teaching assistant among her closest connections. Years later, a conversation with Professor Tony Brown helped her reflect more deeply on her career direction, an example of how Sanford’s influence continued well beyond the classroom.

Learning to write, negotiate, and lead

Schwartz credits Sanford with shaping how she approaches her work every day, especially in how she communicates and makes decisions.

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“I learned how to write in the correct way for policymakers at Sanford,” she said. “It’s something I’ve used throughout my career and tried to teach others as I’ve moved into leadership roles.”

Just as important were the less tangible skills: how to negotiate, how to understand what motivates others, and how to balance competing priorities without losing sight of the bigger picture.

“All of those things, I really built that foundation at Sanford,” she said.

They proved essential as her career took her through roles in Congress, the executive branch, and beyond. As a deputy press secretary, she learned to translate complex policy into clear public messaging. As a legislative director and later deputy chief of staff, she worked across a wide range of issues, embracing the breadth she had always sought.

“I gravitated toward jobs that were like survey courses in policy,” she said.

An unexpected runway

Transportation entered the picture gradually. While working for a senator whose top priority was transportation, Schwartz began spending more time on those issues. That exposure opened the door to an opportunity at the U.S. Department of Transportation, and eventually, to a pivotal role as chief of staff at the Federal Aviation Administration. That experience reshaped her career.

“I was already about 18 years in,” she said. “And then I got to the FAA, and I just fell in love with it.”

At the FAA, she worked on a wide range of challenges, from legislative priorities to community engagement, as well as emerging issues like integrating drones and commercial space transportation into the national airspace system. The complexity and scale of aviation drew her in.

“It’s just such an incredible system,” she said. From there, her path led to Los Angeles, where she took on a senior executive role at Los Angeles World Airports, helping oversee one of the busiest airports in the world.

“I don’t think that when you’re studying public policy in college, you’re thinking, ‘I’m going to help run an airport,’” she said. “That never would have been on my bingo card.” Yet in hindsight, the trajectory is logical. Each role, each decision to say yes, built toward something larger. “It makes sense in reverse,” she said.

Today, she has taken that experience to found Takeoff Advisors LLC, an aviation-focused strategic consulting firm whose name is a nod to her love of both aviation and surfing. 

Policy in the background

Throughout her career, Schwartz has seen firsthand how public policy shapes everyday life, often in subtle ways.

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“Public policy is probably best when you don’t notice it,” she said. From the roads people drive to the planes they board, many of the systems that make modern life possible depend on cooperation and coordination. And that, she argues, is where policy matters most.

“These are things you can’t do alone,” she said. “They require collective action.”

Her work in aviation brings that idea into sharp focus. Airports sit at the intersection of infrastructure, community, and global connectivity. Decisions ripple outward, affecting neighborhoods, travelers, and industries alike.

“You have to think about unintended consequences,” she said. “About all the externalities, both positive and negative.” That mindset traces back to her earliest days at Sanford, and a lesson that still guides her thinking: good intentions are not enough.

Standing for something

When asked what she stands for, Schwartz does not hesitate.

“I stand for the proposition that none of us makes it on our own,” she said. “We need one another.”

She believes government can and should be a force for good, especially when it brings people together to solve problems that no individual can tackle alone. That belief continues to shape her work and her service, from advising the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator to supporting Sanford as one of its representatives to the Duke Annual Fund Advisory Board.

“I’ve been given so many opportunities,” she said. “I want to help create those opportunities for others.” Her recent “50 by 50” project, documenting her visits to all 50 states, reflects a similar impulse. Through those stories, she found connection across communities and a shared desire for something better. “It gave me a lot of hope,” she said.

Relationships that endure

If there is one principle that ties Schwartz’s career together, it is the importance of relationships.

“Be nice to everyone you ever meet,” she said. “You should do that as a human being. But if you’re not inclined to do it as a human being, do it for your career.” It is advice grounded in experience. In policy, progress often depends not on agreement, but on understanding. “You don’t have to always agree,” she said. “But if you understand where someone is coming from, you’re much more likely to find a way to work together.”

That approach has helped her navigate complex negotiations and build coalitions across differences, whether in Washington or in the communities surrounding LAX.

Full circle

Back at Duke, Schwartz remains as connected as ever. The photos she shares from recent visits tell part of that story: on the court, in Cameron Indoor Stadium, surrounded by fellow alumni in Duke blue.

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Like many Sanford graduates, she carries that connection with her, a reminder of where she started and the community that helped shape her. And after another deep run this year for Duke basketball, she was cheering them on, just as she always has. Her own path, after all, reflects a similar rhythm. Preparation, teamwork, and the ability to adapt when the moment calls for it.

A career that began with curiosity about public policy has taken her across government, across the country, and into leadership roles she never could have predicted.

“I never would have mapped it out this way,” she said. But like any successful journey, it was not about following a fixed route. It was about staying open, building the right skills, and recognizing opportunity when it appeared. In the end, Schwartz found her field. And in doing so, she built a career that continues to move, evolve, and take flight.