Nugent moved to Washington in 1993 to work on Capitol Hill, first for Congressman Paul Kanjorski (D-PA11) then for Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Harris Wofford (D-PA).
After graduate school, Nugent returned to Washington, DC to work as an International Economist at the US Treasury, where he deals with economic growth and development policy issues in Africa, the Middle East,[REF] and Asia [REF].