​Jessica Furer joined the Wallace Foundation in 2022 as a program officer in education leadership. In this capacity, she primarily manages grants in the Equity-Centered Pipeline Initiative.

Before joining Wallace, Furer served first as associate director and then as chief of staff at Eskolta School Research and Design, a nonprofit consulting organization that helps school districts design and strengthen schools that better meet the needs of underserved students. While at Eskolta, she facilitated school improvement projects involving multiple stakeholders, managed research studies and codification efforts for district offices, and supported strategic planning and implementation efforts with youth-serving nonprofits. As chief of staff, Furer also led fundraising efforts and was responsible for Eskolta’s organizational planning and development.

Having started her career as a middle school and high school history teacher in independent schools, Furer went on to work as a project manager at the New York City Department of Education and a program officer at New Visions for Public Schools, a nonprofit working in New York City schools. While there, she helped open six public transfer schools, alternative schools in New York City for students 16-years-old and older, and supported professional learning and operations for a network of 13 such schools.

​Furer earned her undergraduate degree from Yale University and a Masters of Public Administration from New York University’s Wagner Graduate School of Public Service.