Nachama Wilker is a seasoned non-profit professional, with over 20 years of experience as a leader specializing in legal services, disability, protection and advocacy, and other social justice mission-driven organizations. Nachama is passionate about assisting organizations to utilize the opportunities presented during a transition, to do course corrections, and lay the groundwork for the next leader’s success. She has worked with organizations in crisis, organizations recovering from trauma, growing organizations, and those fighting to increase their impact.
Nachama most-recently served as Interim Executive Director of Disability Law Colorado, which protects and promotes the rights of people with disabilities and older people in Colorado through direct legal representation, advocacy, education and legislative analysis.
As founder of Thrive Partnerships, Nachama supports non-profit leaders to develop the tools and strategies they need to rise to the challenges of our times to create a more just and equitable society. Prior to launching Thrive, Nachama spent 18 years as Deputy Executive Director for Training and Technical Assistance at the National Disability Rights Network (NDRN). NDRN is the national membership association of state Protection and Advocacy Agencies, the largest providers of legal services to people with disabilities in the United States. Nachama was also the Executive Director of the Council for Responsible Genetics, a national organization dedicated to advocating for socially-responsible development of genetic technologies by supporting an informed public dialogue on social and environmental impacts.
Nachama holds a BA from Hampshire College in Physics and Political Science. She has completed trainings as a Non-Profit Board Governance Consultant from BoardSource, Coaching Training for the Leadership Practices Inventory 360, and the Georgetown Leadership Academy for Cultural Competency.