An expert on the complex topic of public finance, Yvette Shields spent 26 years as a reporter for the Chicago bureau of the Bond Buyer, a trade publication that covers the municipal bond industry.
“She cared about her beat because she knew that it mattered, not just to the public finance industry but to the public at large,” said Fitch Ratings group credit officer Drew Ward, a former Bond Buyer colleague. “The sustainability of public finances and governments’ access to capital can play a big role in deciding just how much governments can spend on the services that really matter to people. If you want to talk policy, talk money.”
Shields, 57, died of sepsis on July 19 at Community First Medical Center in Portage Park after suffering a cut, said her daughter, Nora. Shields had been a resident of the Northwest Side Dunning neighborhood.
On Sept. 13, she will be posthumously inducted into the Bond Buyer’s Hall of Fame of municipal finance at a dinner at the Palmer House in Chicago.
Born in Chicago, Shields grew up in the northwest suburbs and graduated from the now-shuttered Forest View High School in Arlington Heights. She received a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Columbia College Chicago.
Shields worked as a reporter for the now-defunct City News Bureau from 1988 until 1993 and was a freelance reporter for the Tribune for several years, covering Naperville and several south and southwest suburbs.
In 1997, Shields joined the Bond Buyer’s Chicago office as a reporter. She covered the Midwest’s municipal bond industry, following the budgets of cities, counties, states and other governments and tracking changes in debt ratings for those governments.
“Getting the inside scoop is no small feat when you cover a conservative, risk-averse industry where reputations are closely guarded, but you don’t get to the truth without showing the messy ways decisions are made and getting to know the personalities who make them,” Ward said. “Yvette got us, her readers, access because she built up relationships over decades, knew her stuff well enough to be trusted and worked the phones so damned hard.”
Former Tribune reporter Mary Wisniewski worked with Shields at City News Bureau and then at the Bond Buyer.
“Yvette was brilliant at calling out what was wrong with municipal finance deals and what was right about them, but she was never arrogant,” Wisniewski said. “She always assumed that she could learn more about things, and she was always asking questions and always questioning herself.”
Bond Buyer Editor-in-Chief Mike Scarchilli said in a statement that Shields “was generous with her knowledge, sharing it with local reporters not versed in municipal finance, to help them better inform their own readers.”
“Whether she was explaining something to a cub reporter, or interviewing a public official or industry source on the record, or just chatting on background in search of her next story, Yvette had this ease of conversation where she could get even the most guarded person to settle into a more candid discussion,” Scarchilli said.
In a statement, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson noted that Shields “had a long and remarkable career bringing fair and responsible reporting to our city’s financial community,” while former Mayor Lori Lightfoot said in a statement that Shields “was a subject matter expert who took a thoughtful, committed approach to her reporting.”
Shields was a huge fan of the “Star Wars” and “Dr. Who” media franchises. She loved binge-watching TV shows with her family and going to the cinema.
“We’d go see almost every movie that came out in theaters that looked halfway decent,” her daughter said. “It was something she used to do with her father. It was their little bonding activity.”
Now 27, Nora Shields came out as transgender three years ago. She said her mother was “fantastic about it, really.”
“She was amazing and supportive,” Shields said. “So many of my friends have non-supportive parents, and my mother really allayed every fear and anxiety.”
Shields also is survived by a son, Wesley Alwin; a brother, Richard; her mother, Inez Keller; and a close friend, Scott Alwin.
A celebration of life is set for noon to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 9 at the Irish American Heritage Center, 4626 N. Knox Ave., Chicago.
Goldsborough is a freelance reporter.
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