Alex Usher is the Vice-President (Research) and Director (Canada) of the Educational Policy Institute (EPI), a non-partisan research organization dedicated to improving access to, and quality in, higher education. A graduate of McGill University and Carleton University , with an academic background in history, economics and political science, Alex is the author of two dozen articles and monographs on higher education and is a globally-recognized expert on student assistance and quality measurement in higher education. His main current activity is acting as manager of the MESA (Measuring the Effectiveness of Student Assistance) project, a 4-year longitudinal effort to establish the efficacy of providing grants to low-income students in their early years of study.

Throughout his career, Mr. Usher's involvements have focused on the context and policy environment of post-secondary education and finances. He was the first national director of the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations (1995-6), served as a researcher and lobbyist for the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (1996-98), worked as a consultant for the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada and the Government of Canada (1998-9), and was instrumental in the complex intergovernmental negotiations at the birth of the Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation (1999-2000). Immediately prior to joining EPI, Mr. Usher was the Director of Research and Program Development (2000-3) for the Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation, where he was in charge of Canada's largest-ever research project on access to post-secondary education.

Alex lives in Toronto with his son, Benjamin, who knows more about European football than any other 9-year old on earth.