Yvette Shields, a reporter initially skilled to cowl Chicago Metropolis Corridor, turned her fearless pen to Midwest state and native finance when she joined the Bond Purchaser practically 26 years in the past and launched a profession that enriched the general public finance trade with unmatched protection of the folks, offers and occasions that matter to the bond world.

Alongside the best way she earned a repute as a consummate monetary reporter who had nice private allure, intelligence, and humor. She constructed an intensive community of sources and pals, routinely scooped the competitors, and purchased a deep understanding of the political and monetary nuances that form municipal finance.

Shields died out of the blue on July 19 of what’s believed to be sepsis. She was 57.

Information of her dying reverberated throughout the general public finance neighborhood.

“She was an all-star journalist,” stated Richard Ciccarone, president emeritus of Merritt Analysis Providers and a longtime supply who, like many, grew to know Shields personally through the years.

“She might get to the meat of the difficulty very quickly and ship the story out to her readers earlier than the remainder of the pack,” Ciccarone stated. “Her effervescent persona helped the folks she interviewed really feel comfy and open to significant trade.”

Shields introduced transparency and accountability to the advanced and opaque municipal finance trade together with her relentless protection and willingness to share her information with different reporters and rivals.

“The muni trade will now know much less about Chicago and Illinois funds with Yvette not reporting on them,” stated Matt Fabian, accomplice at Municipal Market Analytics. “We have been fortunate to have had her serving to us for thus lengthy.”

Shields started her journalism profession on the storied Chicago Information Bureau, the place she was skilled to cowl Metropolis Corridor and honed her political instincts and met a lot of her lifelong pals. She joined the Bond Purchaser in 1997, protecting the Midwest at a time when Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley was on the peak of his energy.

 It was a job that suited her, marrying her pure writing expertise and nostril for information together with her political savvy, capacity to sort out advanced topics, and reward for connecting with folks.

Shields dominated the beat. She grew to become one of many best-known monetary reporters in her beloved hometown of Chicago and in Illinois the place she chronicled the monetary tribulations, political corruption and dangerous offers that perpetually landed the town and state on a nationwide stage.

“Getting the within scoop isn’t any small feat whenever you cowl a conservative, risk-averse trade,” stated Andrew Ward, a Fitch Rankings analyst who beforehand labored with Shields on the Bond Purchaser.

“Yvette labored for all of us within the muni bond trade, however she did not advocate for us. She held a mirror as much as us,” Ward stated. “All of us have an curiosity in making a market with excessive integrity, and actual journalism is crucial to that. We’re fairly fortunate to have it, and Yvette was probably the greatest at giving it to us.”

Through the years, mainstream reporters relied on Shields to verify they have been getting the municipal finance story proper.

“She was so sensible and educated and all the time prepared to assist other people like me perceive the complexities of her beat,” stated Wealthy Miller, writer of well-liked political Illinois e-newsletter Capitol Fax. Just a few weeks earlier than her dying, Miller ran one among her tales on the Chicago Bears stadium, citing her because the “incomparable Yvette Shields.”

“Yvette was the most effective at what she did. Bar none,” Miller stated. “It is like there’s now a gap in The Drive.”

Shields lined a number of the greatest public finance tales within the Midwest and nationally. 

She chronicled the notorious Illinois finances deadlock – which earned her a 2017 Peter Lisagor award nomination – Chicago’s descent into junk, Detroit’s restoration from chapter, the United Airways chapter, the collapse of the auction-rate market and the Nice Recession.

Former Bond Purchaser reporter Mary Wisniewski recalled how Shields coordinated Chicago protection the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, when the downtown Bond Purchaser workplace closed for the day. Shields advised Wisniewski to come back over to her home, the place they dug out their trade directories and labored the telephones, calling each Cantor Fitzgerald workplace within the nation to get details about how many individuals the agency misplaced in New York Metropolis.

Shields lined courtroom instances huge and small that impacted state and native funds, from the Illinois Supreme Courtroom’s rulings on troubled pensions to the struggles of the Chicago suburb of Harvey, which marked one among her remaining tales. Harvey’s lawyer and longtime supply Bob Fioretti referred to as her “probably the greatest” and “a real voice for transparency and reality.”

She reported on the rise and fall of dozens of political administrations throughout the Midwest. She broke tales on the hiring and firing of the bankers and buyers that promote and purchase municipal bonds. Alongside the best way, she gained a steel-trap reminiscence of the folks and offers that make up the market.

Shields was wanting ahead to digging into newly elected Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration, and was constructing new sources in his administration when she died.

Nationally, market members relied on Shields to supply correct and easy details about the monetary situation of her beat.

“She was my go-to supply on Chicago and Illinois credit score developments,” muni bond analyst Paul Mansour, vice chairman of the board of the New Hampshire Municipal Bond Financial institution, wrote on LinkedIn. “I adopted her reporting and valued her opinions. I used to be all the time honored when she sought out my opinion.”

Vikram Rai, former head of municipal technique at Citigroup, recalled her as all the time a pleasure to speak with. “She was very forthright in her conversations and protection and she or he understood the muni market very effectively,” Rai stated.

One in every of many who thought of Shields a mentor, Melanie Shaker, senior vice chairman of public finance at FHN Monetary, stated she was “loyal, trustworthy, and completely her personal particular person.

“I’ll always remember her heat and authenticity even within the face of criticism as she held out for what was proper.  Yvette introduced some humanity to our trade and her loss will probably be felt by many,” Shaker stated.

Shields’ prolific output — fueled by late-night writing classes — was enhanced by her considerate and truthful therapy of the folks she was protecting, which she thought of as vital as getting the news.

“Whereas Yvette all the time needed to scoop on transactions and gossip within the municipal market, Yvette all the time was ensuring that now was an okay time to speak, and asking how the household was doing,” stated Dave Erdman, managing director at Baker Tilly Municipal Advisors LLC and former debt supervisor for the state of Wisconsin. As was typical, Shields bought the news that Erdman would land at Baker Tilly after he had left the state.

“Yvette was the mannequin reporter by asking all the fitting questions and being humble sufficient to say ‘cease and clarify that to me,'” Erdman stated.

After her passing, each Brandon Johnson and former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot put out statements, with Johnson saying Shields had a “lengthy and memorable profession bringing truthful and accountable reporting to our metropolis’s monetary neighborhood” and Lightfoot noting that she “made the advanced matter of municipal finance accessible to her readers.”

State Comptroller Susana Mendoza referred to as Shields “essentially the most educated reporter protecting state finance within the Midwest” whose “mastery of economic points was matched by her larger-than-life persona” and her love for her youngsters.

“Approaching the heels of the lack of Civic Federation President Laurence Msall and Illinois Chamber of Commerce President Todd Maisch, Yvette’s dying deprives us of one more trusted voice on state finance,” Mendoza stated.

Jennie Huang Bennett, Chicago CFO beneath Lightfoot, referred to as Shields a “sensible, hard-working, financially savvy, truthful, and well-connected reporter.

“Her passing is a gigantic loss to monetary transparency and accountability within the Midwest and in Chicago,” Bennett stated. “Above all, she was particular person and she or he was obsessed with municipal finance.”

Shields’ humor got here out in her bantering and droll social media presence, the place her Twitter bio reads “The Bond Purchaser indicators the checks, snark is my very own.”

Her affect within the native media panorama was mirrored within the feedback that got here in on social media after she died.

Veteran Chicago Solar-Occasions Metropolis Corridor reporter Fran Spielman, who wrote a July 21 obituary of Shields, referred to as her dying a “horrible loss – for the town and her household,” on Twitter. “No person knew metropolis and state funds higher than Yvette and Civic Federation President Laurence Msall,” who died in February.

“An actual journalism professional – and an aesthetic girl – gone far too quickly,” tweeted Crain’s Chicago Enterprise political reporter Greg Hinz.

“Great particular person, buddy, legendary muni reporter,” tweeted William Glasgall, senior director of public finance on the Volcker Alliance and former Bloomberg editor.

Outdoors of her work, Yvette beloved her metropolis of Chicago and swimming in Lake Michigan – she was the primary amongst her pals to take a dip this summer season – and in native swimming pools, the place she made pals with different regulars throughout her night swims. She beloved dwell music, day journeys together with her household, literature, fish and chips, Bells Amber beer, strolling within the Cook dinner County forest preserves, Metropolis Information reunions, hanging out with pals and neighbors, and the north woods of Wisconsin.

Above all, she beloved her youngsters, Wesley Alwin, 16, and Nora Shields, 27.

She can be survived by her mom Inez Keller, brother Richard John Shields, stepsisters Kelly Fleming and Denise O’Connor, nieces Zash Fleming and Crystal O’Connor, nephew Walter O’Connor, cousin Richard Owens and aunt Christine Owens, and by Scott Alwin, her shut buddy and Wesley’s father.

A Go Fund Me account has been set as much as pay for Wesley’s schooling.

Visitation was held Tuesday at Gibbons Funeral Dwelling in Chicago.

An trade remembrance memorial will probably be held in September in Chicago.