Jake Custer is the vice president of HR and operations for the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. Prior to this role, Jake served as the director of growth strategy for Opportunity 180, a Nevada non-profit focused on increasing the number of high-quality public school seats in the state. In his role, Jake recruited public charter school networks to expand to Las Vegas, launched and collaborated with school leader preparation programs to develop local talent, and partnered with community members and organizations to advocate for better public schools.
Jake began his work with charter schools in 2011 as a talent recruitment and selection manager at DC Prep Public Charter Schools, recruiting and hiring teachers across all of DC Prep’s campuses. Eventually becoming DC Prep’s director of recruitment, Jake led DC Prep’s talent recruitment efforts to attract and retain the very best urban educators and leaders—overseeing all aspects of DC Prep’s recruitment efforts to ensure the most competitive, proactive, year-round recruitment strategy as the organization grew. Jake started his career in education at DC Public Schools (DCPS) where he began teaching through the DC Teaching Fellows Program. At DCPS, he worked as a special education teacher. He also worked as a mentor teacher and lead selector for hiring new fellows at TNTP.
Jake holds a BA in Political Science from Michigan State University and an MA in Education and Human Development from George Washington University.
