Ethan Conner-Ross, M.P.A.

Ethan Conner-Ross is an executive vice president and principal of ESI, where he leads the firm’s government and public policy practice. For more than a decade, Ethan has helped clients plan for, quantify, and demonstrate the economic and social impacts of their activities.

Ethan’s work with government, quasi-public, and private sector organizations, combines sound analytical techniques with practical insights to help define and communicate findings. His policy issues of focus include economic insecurity, fiscal policy, transportation, housing, and economic development. Ethan has led policy studies at the state and local level, economic assessments of a range of projects or proposals, and planning efforts focused on the fiscal impact of land use and economic development choices.

Ethan is an experienced presenter and communicator who has represented ESI’s work for clients in front of numerous public hearings. He has presented and testified before city, borough, and County councils as well as legislative committees and task forces in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Ethan is also a speaker at regional, state, and national events on his topics of expertise including retirement security, fiscal analysis, and the economic impacts of transportation.

Ethan joined the firm  in 2014 as a director and managed projects within the government and public policy, transportation and infrastructure, and economic development practices before ascending to the position of principal in 2019. In 2024 he became Executive Vice President and Principal, a role in which he helps to manage firm strategy, staffing, and business development. From 2006 to 2013 Ethan worked at Visit Philadelphia, a nonprofit organization that promotes tourism in the Greater Philadelphia region. He rose to the position of Vice President of Research and Planning, directing the organization’s market research program, supporting data-driven corporate communications, and leading agency-wide planning.

Ethan received a Master of Public Administration from the Fels Institute of Government at the University of Pennsylvania in 2014, with a certificate in Economic Development, and a Bachelor of Arts in History and Political Science from Amherst College in 2005. A lifelong resident of the Philadelphia area, Ethan lives in the city with his wife and two children.