NCS FOUNDERS
The people who built
Next Chapters Solutions
Founded by lived experience and technical expertise
Co Founder, NCS
Nate Johnson
Ecosystem Builder · Keynote Speaker · Author
Nate Johnson spent 12.5 years inside the Michigan Department of Corrections and the last 12 years building what others only theorize about. He co-founded Fresh Coast Alliance and Reentry United, established the MDOC pilot partnership, and built the connected reentry ecosystem that became Next Chapters Solutions. His Pre-Entry through Post-Entry framework is the backbone of everything NCS does. He lives and leads from Muskegon — the same community he came home to.
Co Founder, NCS
Pankaj Chaudhary
Technology Leader · Social Entrepreneur · Platform Builder
Pankaj Chaudhary brings the technical architecture that turns lived experience into scalable systems. With a background at Uber and Aurora in robotics and platform engineering, he leads the technology infrastructure behind NCS — the Reentry Exchange platform, the Resource Navigator, and the data systems that allow the model to replicate. His role is to ensure that what works in Michigan can work everywhere.
Team Members
Idris Golden
Job Developer
Idris is formerly incarcerated and brings that lived experience directly into his work connecting returning citizens with real employment. As a Community Navigator with Mediation and Restorative Services in Muskegon, he worked hands-on with paroled offenders reconnecting with family and community resources, the exact transition this role is built around. Before that, Idris spent over a decade in West Michigan automotive sales, building a reputation strong enough that at one point he outsold every other salesperson on the floor combined, and went on to lead as CEO of Hustlaz Inc and CEO and General Manager of Greenroom Gardens LLC. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Leadership in Business and Non-Profit Organizations from Grand Valley State University.
Willie Walker
Economic Stability Provider
Willie entered prison at 16 and served more than eleven years in the Michigan Department of Corrections. Since coming home, he's rebuilt his life through faith, accountability, steady employment, and family, and now works alongside MDOC, parole agents, and probation officers to help others returning from incarceration find that same stability. Willie is also an author, mentor, youth basketball coach, and community advocate from Benton Harbor, Michigan, known for his direct, honest presentations on choices, consequences, and the possibility of genuine transformation. State Representative Nancy DeBoer has publicly recognized him as a productive member of his community who gives back and positively influences young people through his volunteer work.
Diana Maina
Development Coordinator
Diana is a fundraising and donor relations professional with more than six years of experience in grant writing and individual donor fundraising, spanning grant writing, corporate sponsorship, fundraising events, partnership development, and donor management. She is trained in fundraising proposal development and excels in narrative writing, outcomes reporting, and budget tracking, skills she applies at NCS to research funding opportunities, track program outcomes, and translate what's happening on the ground into the data and narrative funders need to see. Diana holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Nairobi and a Master of International Development from the University of Pittsburgh
SPEAKERS COLLECTIVE
Our Partners
Damon West
3x WSJ Best-Selling Author
Sentenced to 65 years. Now a professor whose Coffee Bean philosophy is adopted by the US Army, Alabama Football, and Fortune 500 companies. USA Today's most in-demand speaker in America.
Lester Young, Jr.
Executive Director, Path2Redemption
22.5 years served. Full pardon. Author of 4 books. Certified DISC Trainer. TEDx speaker. Gives audiences a structured roadmap for transformation, not just inspiration.
Jeffrey Abramowitz, J.D.
CEO, Petey Greene Program
Former trial attorney. CEO. Award-winning TV host. Moves organizations from isolated programs to coordinated systems that produce lasting outcomes at scale.
Adam Clausen
Director of Innovation & Social Impact
213-year sentence. Compassionate release. Testified before the US Sentencing Commission. Doesn't just advocate for second chances - builds the systems that make them work.
Dr. Stanley Andrisse
Executive Director, From Prison Cells to PhD
Three felonies. Howard University professor and PhD. Founder of From Prison Cells to PhD - mentoring justice-impacted scholars toward academic and professional careers.
Kendall L. Taylor
Founder & CEO, Salute 1st LLC
Founder of Salute 1st LLC. Builds leadership systems rooted in character formation because character is the foundation of everything else.