Barmak Nassirian joined Veterans Education Success in July 2021 as the Vice President for Higher Education Policy, developing and executing the organization’s higher education policy priorities.
Nassirian brings more than three decades of experience in higher education and is a nationally-known expert on multiple facets of the higher education sector, including institutional finance, academic policy, accreditation, and federal student aid. His past policy experience in Washington includes leading roles at the American Association of State Colleges and Universities and the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers, work on the last three congressional reauthorizations of the Higher Education Act, extensive regulatory activity with federal agencies, including multiple rounds of negotiated rulemaking with the U.S. Department of Education, and testimony before congressional committees on various higher education topics. He brings with him a wide network of contacts on both sides of the aisle on Capitol Hill, within key federal agencies, as well as with the media and the broader national policy community.
Nassirian received a master’s degree in comparative literature from the University of Maryland, with a fellowship from the Center for the Philosophy of Law at the Free University of Brussels.