"Although almost twenty years have passed since my summer canvassing for PIRG, I not only remember that time with great fondness but that initial exposure to the world of public-interest lobbying continues to shape my career path and my political involvement. Professionally, I currently run a non-profit organization whose mission is to help make progressive advocacy organizations more effective in their work, and I can trace my awareness of the public-interest sector and commitment to advancing its mission directly back to my time at PIRG. On a volunteer level, I recently participated in a successful grassroots campaign in my hometown (Washington, DC) on behalf of a candidate for school board, and I found myself applying and sharing with others many of the lessons I learned from my canvassing work at PIRG.” - Jerry Hauser, President & CEO, Advocacy Institute
Jerry Hauser is now leading a new venture called the Management Center. Launched by progressive philanthropist Peter Lewis, the Management Center's mission is to consult with nonprofit advocacy groups to help them consistently achieve outstanding results by using the best management practices of any sector. Before this, Jerry joined the Advocacy Institute in September 2005 as President and CEO, a position to which he brought his dual passions for promoting social justice and creating high-performing organizations. Prior to joining the Advocacy Institute, Jerry served as the Chief Operating Officer at Teach For America, where he managed all aspects of the national non-profit that recruits and trains outstanding recent college graduates to teach in the nation's most under-resourced schools. During his seven years there, Jerry helped Teach For America expand its reach significantly: applications increased from 3,000 to 17,000 per year and annual fundraising went from $8 million to $38 million. In addition to his time at Teach For America, Jerry also learned about creating strong organizations while working as an associate at the management consulting firm of McKinsey & Company in Washington, DC, where he served Fortune 500, state government, and non-profit clients. Jerry began his career as a high school math and history teacher through Teach For America in Compton, California. He holds a J.D. from Yale Law School, where he was a Senior Editor of the Yale Law Journal, co-led a non-profit foundation for start-up public interest law projects, and helped lead a successful federal court challenge to Amtrak's policy of ejecting the homeless from Penn Station. He earned his undergraduate degree in political science from Duke University, and has studied Spanish in Mexico and Guatemala. He has appeared on a variety of panels regarding non-profit leadership, and his article on "Organizational Lessons for Non-Profits" appeared in The McKinsey Quarterly in 2003.
