Swonk was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan.[3] She studied economics at the University of Michigan, where she obtained a bachelor's degree in 1984,[1] followed by a master's degree, in 1985.[4][5] She also holds an MBA in finance from the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago.[4] She is dyslexic, and has spoken publicly on how she considers this to have affected her work.[6][7]
Career
Swonk started her career at the age of 22 when she joined First Chicago Corporation in 1985 as an associate economist.[8] Despite encounters with workplace gender discrimination,[9] by the turn of the century, Swonk became "widely regarded as one of the premier forecasters of the U.S. economy".[1] The bank later merged with Banc One Corporation to become Bank One.[10] Swonk rose to become director of Economics and senior vice president, prior to leaving the firm in 2004.[8][10]
In November 2004, Swonk was appointed chief economist and senior managing director at Mesirow Financial.[14][15] She spent 11 years at the firm, before leaving in 2016 to found her private consulting firm, DS Economics, where she serves as CEO.[15][5][16]
Swonk was appointed chief economist of Grant Thornton, LLP in January 2018.[4] In July 2022, KPMG US appointed her as its chief economist.[17]
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