Rachel Halfaker is an associate director at Milken Institute Finance. Halfaker works on the public finance and resilient infrastructure work which focuses on identifying innovative partnership and financing models for the public finance field and emerging investment strategies for resilient infrastructure. Halfaker launched the Institute's Community Infrastructure Center, a platform connecting over 1,000 organizations to data, resources, and capital to advance critical infrastructure projects. She also co-leads the Milken Institute’s Initiative for Inclusive Entrepreneurship Program, a collaborative partnership designed to mobilize $10B in State Small Business Credit Initiative capital for socially and economically disadvantaged business owners. Prior to her work at the Milken Institute, Halfaker worked at the intersection of urban technology and economic development as an Urban Development Consultant in Deloitte’s Smart Cities practice and led Market Launch for an urban mobility startup in Washington D.C. Halfaker holds a Masters in Urban Planning from Georgetown University and a BS in Information Systems from the University of Florida.