PGS Welcomes Cason as New Business Consultant
Professional Growth Systems is pleased to welcome Drew Cason to its planning and process improvement consulting bench. Cason is a third generation Alaskan who is excited to bring his passion for high-functioning systems to bear for PGS clients.
After graduating UAA in 2013 with bachelors’ in environment and society and philosophy, he spent two years as a lobbyist in Washington DC as the Associate in Jack Ferguson Associates.
Eager to return to Alaska, Cason worked for Denali Daniels Associates for a year supporting the Department of Energy in Alaska and getting his first taste of being a professional facilitator, helping the Alaska Children’s Trust work with stakeholders to leverage data to maximize the positive impact on Alaska youth. Following his time with DDA, he pursued his interest in Alaska’s fiscal situation and was hired by the newly formed bipartisan House Majority Coalition as Deputy Press Secretary for two years and aide to Speaker of the House Bryce Edgmon for one. In the legislature, Cason worked with legislators on public speaking, press releases, and internal caucus strategy, as well as carrying legislation and responding to constituent issues in Southwest Alaska.
Cason left the legislature to return to Anchorage full-time, where he took a part time position as Government Affairs Director and municipal lobbyist for the Anchorage Home Builders Association (AHBA). Working with AHBA gave him an opportunity to round out his experience with Federal, State, and Local government while tackling topics of tremendous concern to his community. On behalf of AHBA, and leveraging connections from his time at UAA, he initiated a partnership with the Anchorage Coalition to End Homelessness (ACEH) and hosted Town Halls for candidates to discuss the related topics of Housing and Homelessness; first for candidates for State House and Senate in fall of 2020, then for candidates for Anchorage Mayor in 2021.
While working with AHBA, Cason co-founded a startup, Alaska Remote Imaging, LLC (ARI) to provide 3D imaging of facilities for clients around Alaska. Getting a new business in a new market sector up and running in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic was a tremendously rewarding and educational experience. But it was also time consuming, and ARI was ultimately sold to former clients in order to free up bandwidth for Cason to focus on his passion for working with people to understand and improve the systems they participate in at Professional Growth Systems.