The New and the Old
The last time Scott Weishaar was mentioned in these pages, he’d won the Theodore H. and Dorothy E. Kerry Memorial Scholarship in the College of the Liberal Arts, was featured on the inside page of a 2000 issue of The Penn Stater magazine, and was awarded the Lois-Jean Ruth Endowed Scholarship in the College of the Liberal Arts the following year.
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Scott Weishaar, '01 economics |
At the time, we predicted Scott would have a bright future, and we were pleased to learn that we were right. For Weishaar, life after graduation has been a combination of new and old, familiar and exciting new ventures.
“When I was at Penn State, I didn’t even realize that the economic consulting industry existed; I figured that I’d take a financial or public policy job,” he says. “On the first day of work people were talking about concepts that I had learned in class. I was surprised and pleased to find a direct application to what I’d learned as an undergraduate.”
The economic consulting firm is Bates White, in Washington, D.C. Weishaar began his time at the firm with a summer internship that eventually became a full-time job. Weishaar explains that most of the work the firm is engaged in is litigation-based.
“We’re hired by some of the top law firms in the country to help their clients analyze the economic environment surrounding their court cases,” he says. “Many of the issues we deal with are political hot button topics.”
Most recently, that has meant focusing on health care issues, like pharmaceutical pricing. Weishaar works on behalf of over sixty pharmaceutical companies to defend against lawsuits filed by various Medicaid representatives and insurance agencies. His team analyzes the economic drivers for drug prices in various markets.
Weishaar says that although his current work is complex, drawing not only on his economics major but also on his minors in business information systems and political science, he doesn’t lose sight of his obligation to give back. It’s a feeling he says was inspired by his Penn State experience. That experience began in high school, when Weishaar learned about Upward Bound, a Penn State mentoring program for high school students that hope to attend college. The students generally came from low-income families with parents that had not attended college. Weishaar tutored math in the program his senior year, and has recently begun to mentor underprivileged middle-school students in southeast D.C.
“Sometimes I have to step back from the litigation, where millions of dollars are on the line, and ask, ‘How am I impacting the common person?’” says Weishaar. “Penn State gave me that perspective and helped me to think about larger social ramifications.”
Over the long term, Weishaar says he wants to manage a practice in the health care industry, either privately or through a hospital. But for now, he’s got a full plate—both professional and personally—and he’s very happy with it. "I enjoy my work, and I love living here in Washington,” he says. “I’m also getting married this November and really looking forward to it.”
Note: Bates White has been a generous supporter of the College’s economics department and students like Scott. We thank the company and other donors, including LJ Ruth, for ensuring that Scott and students like him have access to a Penn State education.