Thomas Asher is director of research and global engagement at Columbia World Projects, where he builds and sustains networks — of civic leaders, policymakers, practitioners, and researchers — that turn academic insight into action on civic culture, democratic futures, responsive government, responsible technology, and inclusive cities. He recently led a university-wide Columbia Global working group to develop a strategy for drawing together Columbia's assets on globalization. He also is a fellow of practice at the Committee on Global Thought.

Much of his current work centers on deepening how people participate in democracy. He has supported New York City's Civic Engagement Commission to assess digital civic tools and serves on their participatory budgeting advisory board. In 2022–23 he took a public-service leave to join the Biden administration and lead a whole-of-government effort embedding community engagement and public participation into the design of federal policy. His work has been supported by the Andrew Carnegie Foundation, Department of Education, Ford Foundation, Knight Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, Mellon Foundation, Rockefeller Brothers Fund and Surdna Foundation. He also advises philanthropies on strengthening democracy. He currently serves on the bipartisan Administrative Process and Public Participation working group convened by the Foundation for American Innovation and New America.

Earlier, Tom spent a decade at the Social Science Research Council, directing grant and fellowship programs that built social-science capacity on democracy, peacebuilding, and international affairs across Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and the United States. He was a 2019 visiting fellow at the Centre for Humanities Research at the University of the Western Cape, and contributed to a collective installation on migration in Southern Africa at the 2023 Venice Biennale Architettura. He holds a Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Chicago.