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What does it mean to build a career rooted in public service? For Adler Prioly ’09, the answer lies at the intersection of finance, renewable energy, and urban development. As a Yale student, Adler explored academic interests and gained professional experience by serving local New Haven organizations and working as a Dwight Hall Urban Fellow. Those engagements broadened his understanding of urban policy and development and paved the way for a career dedicated to raising capital for clean energy technology and sustainable infrastructure.
In this interview, Adler reflects on his professional journey, sharing how his Dwight Hall service continues to shape his work and offering insights for students looking to forge their own paths in social impact.
What first drew you to public service and social justice work at Yale?
As an undergraduate, I found the experience incomplete without some practical activity in the community. The advantage of being a student in New Haven is that the city is right in front of you. In some ways, it is limiting to rely on a university to open up those resources. New Haven is small enough such that if you are willing to reach out, there are ways to be involved. I spent time volunteering at Junta for Progressive Action in Fair Haven and worked a bit with St. Luke’s Development Corporation when it was exploring ways to grow in its immediate neighborhood. I spent my Friday afternoons at the Yale Urban Farm as well. I was basically never at home on breaks as I usually sought out some service trip; for example, I remember going to New Orleans doing post-Katrina relief for a week during spring break.
When I learned about the Urban Fellows Program, I wanted a more structured way to understand and contribute to solving tangible problems outside of the classroom. Once I started working in New Haven, gosh – I can remember spending more time in New Haven than in the classroom for a few semesters. It was some of the best education to work on solving real challenges affecting the city and its residents.
How did your experiences at Dwight Hall and as an Urban Fellow shape your approach to service?
It has had a substantial impact. There were two particular experiences that affected me. First, one year I worked in the Commission for Equal Opportunities and put together a grant proposal for a pre-apprenticeship construction program that raised over half a million dollars. That was my early experience in capital raising for a structured purpose. It was also a great accomplishment for me personally. As a student, I could access resources and have this tremendous impact on job training, workforce development, and charting the path of residents to grow in an industry to support their families. Second, I was a Co-Coordinator of Urban Fellows in my senior year. Part of my responsibility involved putting together dinners with leaders in New Haven. That educated me outside of the classroom about the challenges that New Haven specifically faced and helped me to see others who were also passionate about improving the capacity of urban development and learn about their creative ideas and solutions.
When I was an undergraduate, urban studies was a niche interest. However, Dwight Hall was where a lot of the students with that interest congregated. Urban Studies is rather large at Yale now thanks to some alumni and faculty who have listened to the interests of students. I am grateful that students have more resources and support to explore the various facets of urbanism.
In what ways did your time at Dwight Hall influence your career path?
Dwight Hall afforded me a set of diverse professional opportunities that set me on a path to identify my long-term interest – which in and of itself is intersectional. My career path is a composite of a few experiences that I was pursuing, even though I couldn’t quite articulate it then.
When I look back, my primary interest was in infrastructure, but there are more elements to that. I studied architecture and concentrated in urban studies. So I had an interest in developing hard assets but also an interest in how policy can shape the acceleration of the deployment of infrastructure. Complementing my interest is the workforce that enables that deployment. These interests were all percolating in my head. And it was the practical experience in New Haven that helped me realize that my interests themselves could be affirmed in this work.
I have focused on raising and structuring capital to support the deployment of clean energy technology and projects throughout the country. Doing this in the U.S. context requires a strong finance and policy lens. In other words, it is not one thing. You have to be informed broadly and deeply within these lenses to be effective in the renewable industry.
How have you stayed engaged in public service after Yale, especially while working in the private sector and focusing on finance and renewable energy?
I spend a lot of my time outside of work with mission-aligned nonprofit organizations and small businesses. I have a unique skill set and experience in financial services, renewable energy, and capital raising, and I think it only makes sense to provide those professional resources to organizations that need some additional resource capacity. Financial management, strategic operations, and business planning are sometimes the last things that organizations consider in their day to day. I like to help them to take a step back and take a wider and longer view. In the end, I want these organizations to have more capacity and resources so that their employees can have quality jobs, they can expand upon their mission, and be on track for sustainable long-term operations. That is how I stay engaged.
What advice would you give to students and recent graduates eager to use their skills for meaningful change?
The advice that I have for students is to identify what they like and don’t like. There are some clues from my academic interests that suggest that my work now is a good fit. Architecture itself is an interdisciplinary major of art, science, urban planning, economics, and policy. Day to day, I have to arrange and audit financial models, read and negotiate legal contracts, manage third parties, make investment decisions based on sometimes incomplete information, and maintain relationships with various financial institutions. I enjoy the wide range of skills that are required on a day-to-day basis and the detail-oriented nature of my work. And that wide range of interests is somewhat informed by my personal disposition and my course of study as an undergraduate.
But as much as you can identify what you like and don’t like, it is important to understand what this looks like in a work context. Try a few different jobs and activities and observe how you feel. And you do not need to be perfect at everything. If some things are hard that is okay. If you like things enough, you will probably find ways to be better at your limitations. Find some alum who can help you to pressure test your assumptions about what industry and work may be best for you. Then chart out what some potential paths are. It sounds so simple, but I am surprised at how many undergraduates are taken aback by simple questions, like “What do you like doing and what don’t you like doing?” You have got to be able to answer that to start.
Do you have a guiding philosophy or core belief about service that shapes your work?
You have to be who you are and listen to the path that you are taking. There are any number of forms of service that one can find at Dwight Hall – any can be appropriate if they align with who you are and what impassions you. But it is okay to take a different path, and some amount of fear along that journey is not the worst thing in the world.
I helped a small investment firm grow its renewable finance business, and I spend time supporting capital and corporate growth of renewable enterprises and small-to-medium businesses. I leverage my professional experiences to support organizations that I want to see succeed. I do not think that you would have found my version of service in the context of my undergraduate education. But it makes complete sense based on my professional path, interests, and relationships. In other words, it aligns with who I am and what I care about. I can understand that it can be intimidating – there is this big world and so many opportunities. You do not have to do it all. Listen to who you are and start taking steps, reflect, and do it all again.
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Adler’s Urban Fellows experience exemplifies the Grow pillar of Dwight Hall’s Engage, Grow, and Advance program delivery model, which develops Yale students’ intellectual, moral, civic, and creative capacities to the fullest through experiential learning, fellowships, mentorship, and trainings.
You may learn more about the Urban Fellows program here.
