Built by people who know
what's at stake.
Reentry United was founded on one conviction: that the people closest to the problem are closest to the solution and that bringing everyone together, inside and outside, is how you actually move the needle.
OUR STORY
The organization that goes inside and convenes the field.
In 2015, Angela invited Nate to speak at the Muskegon County Jail. Unbeknownst to them at the time, that was the launching pad for Reentry United. Nate brought years of lived experience inside the system. Angela brought 25 years of professional expertise. Uniting the experiential with the professional, the Grass Root with the Grass Top, they created what they call "the secret sauce for successful reentry."
In November 2022, with the support of Michigan Works West Central and Michigan Department of Corrections, they hosted the first Reentry United Conference. It had a 250-seat capacity and sold out quickly. In 2023, they did something that had never been done in Michigan: they brought the conference inside a correctional facility. Four years later, they're running monthly inside events across every security level and a national annual conference reaching ten-plus states.
Reentry United now operates as a fully independent organization, building the data, infrastructure, a sponsorship pipeline and replication systems needed to take what works in Michigan and scale it nationwide.
Angela Sprank
Program LeadAngela has dedicated 25 years to the criminal justice field. The first half of her career was spent as a coordinator for a successful Crime Victim Rights program; she built from the ground up. Her second chapter has been committed to reentry. As coordinator for the best practice (MDOC) Region 4 Reentry Program, serving 13 counties, she has piloted high-impact programs for justice-involved individuals, including a CDL initiative with a 96% success rate. As co-founder of Reentry United, she developed the convening model through her partnerships with MDOC, now active at every security level in Michigan and drawing 325+ to the annual national conference.
Angela is a recognized reentry expert and in-state and national speaker. She advances successful educational and workforce pathways, navigation models, and justice-impacted advisory councils designed to reduce recidivism.
Angela returned to Michigan State University to obtain her master's degree in criminal justice, with an anticipated graduation of May 2027.
Nate Johnson
Partnership LeadNate spent 12.5 years inside the Michigan Department of Corrections and the last 12 years building what others only theorize about. Soon after his release, he co-founded Fresh Coast Alliance - now one of Michigan's most recognized reentry and recovery organizations, providing housing, employment, and recovery services out of Muskegon.
Then, using that expertise, he was invited in 2015 to speak inside the Muskegon County Jail — a conversation with Angela that became the launching pad for Reentry United, the national convening he co-founded and built alongside her. He went on to co-found Next Chapters Solutions, the infrastructure now carrying that work nationally, and co-authored When Two Agree with his father.
Nate is a dynamic leader, deeply embedded in the Muskegon community he came home to - where he also founded Kingdom Life Church. He speaks on national platforms, but the constant is closer to home: mentoring the men and women coming home now, many of them looking for the same sense of direction he once needed himself.
Pankaj Chaudhary
Growth LeadPankaj spent ten years building the safety and testing infrastructure behind self-driving vehicles at Uber and Aurora Innovation - managing large engineering teams and wearing every hat the work demanded, from systems architecture to the frontline safety validation that determined whether a car and truck was actually ready for the road.
For the past two years, he's turned that same instinct toward reentry, co-founding Next Chapters Solutions to build the technology and data infrastructure - connecting every stage of the reentry journey into one system. Reentry United's national convening is part of that same system. Beyond NCS, he's spent his career applying that same engineering discipline to grassroots, social-impact work, including a seat on the board of a school being built from the ground up in Mosoriot, Kenya.
His focus now is building the systems, data, and infrastructure that grow Reentry United to its next level.
Stay Connected
Be first to know when 2027 registration opens — plus updates on our inside work, data, and events.