People
Paul E. Williams, executive director
Paul is the founder and executive director of CPE. He founded CPE because he believes our public sector must be revitalized to overcome constraints in today’s economy and to provide high quality public goods and services. He formerly worked for the Jain Family Institute in New York, the City of Chicago’s Department of Housing, and the Economic Opportunity Institute in Seattle. He holds an MA in economics from John Jay College at CUNY and a BA in mathematics from The Evergreen State College.
Chirag Lala, director of energy
Chirag is a doctoral candidate in economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and specializes in macroeconomics, finance, and the economics of decarbonization and public investment. His project areas include public banking, public energy projects, and state climate programs. His experience comes from academic study, research for various public service interests, and his work as a consultant.
Yakov Feygin, director of public finance
Yakov previously worked as an Associate Director at the Berggruen Institute and as a Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. He has a Ph.D. in Economic History from the University of Pennsylvania and is an expert on green bank design, public finance, and industrial policy.
Advait Arun, energy policy associate
Advait is a climate finance and energy policy analyst with experience evaluating strategies for mobilizing public and private finance toward the green transition. His project areas center on direct pay implementation and green finance modeling. He formerly worked for the United States Treasury Department's Office of Sustainable Infrastructure. He graduated from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service with a degree in international political economy.
Sheree Bouchee, director of housing
Sheree comes to CPE with 18 years of experience working on housing programs in the public sector. She most recently served as the housing strategist for the Arizona Department of Housing, and has also held housing roles at the City of Phoenix, City of Scottsdale, and City of Flagstaff.
Ashwin Warrior, deputy director of housing
Ashwin Warrior has dedicated his career to addressing our nation’s affordable housing crisis. He most recently worked for HUD in the Office of Recapitalization where he assisted public housing authorities to rehabilitate and reinvest in their properties as well as build new deeply affordable housing through the innovative Faircloth-to-RAD program. He earned his bachelor’s degree in economics from Seattle University and his Master in Public Affairs from Princeton University.