Asher Mayerson ‘11 credits CESJDS for providing him with early exposure to senior officials in the federal government, through lectures and group discussions which then planted seeds for him that a career in government and public service was possible. Asher is a CESJDS lifer having attended from kindergarten through 12th grade. His siblings Aaron ‘09 and Noah ‘14 are also CESJDS lifers.

At CESJDS Asher was involved in the debate team, soccer team, and the Spanish language literary magazine. He has fond memories of his teachers and administrators from Ms. Munteanu who instilled him with a love of science to Ms. Landy who showed him the importance of being a supporter to others. Asher cites the high school curriculum at CESJDS “in helping to significantly hone [his] writing skills, which has continually enabled [him] to communicate complex ideas to the public. That has been incredibly valuable in [his] current role, where [he has] written hundreds of pages of guidance to implement a statute that is only several hundred words long.” He still maintains many close relationships with several classmates who live in Washington, DC. 

Following graduation at CESJDS, Asher attended Dartmouth College with a BA in Mathematics and Economics, then later graduated from the University of Chicago with an MBA in Finance and an MPP in Fiscal and Economic Policy. For the last decade, Asher has sought to make an impact at the intersection of public policy and finance. By working in both of these two fields, Asher hoped that he could make a unique contribution to the world by combining deep knowledge of public policy, politics, and government with expertise in finance, financial markets and institutions, and economics. He has worked first as a consultant at Boston Consulting Group and is now leading the National Clean Investment Fund and Clean Communities Investment Accelerator program at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). He has also worked in the government as part of the Obama White House as a staff assistant and later a policy advisor, and in the city of Chicago as the Deputy Chief Operating Officer for the City Treasurer, where he lived for 6 years.

Asher’s greatest professional and personal achievement is leading the design and implementation of the $20 billion Inflation Reduction Act program at EPA, “which was the right opportunity for [him] to use [his] unique set of experiences at the intersection of government and finance -- with particular expertise in climate finance -- to drive impact at scale.” This program aims to create a national clean financing network that will finance climate and clean energy projects, especially in low-income and disadvantaged communities. 

Asher has always looked to his mother for guidance. As a union-side labor lawyer, she inspired him to pursue a career in public service. In his free time, he enjoys running, gardening, and watching soccer (he is now a Washington Spirit season ticket holder) a sport he fell in love with while being on the CESJDS soccer team. He advises current CESJDS students to “focus on the work that [they] want to do, not the title that [they] want to have.”