Nachama Wilker is the Founder and CEO of Thrive Partnerships. Prior to launching Thrive, Nachama spent 18 years as Deputy Executive Director for Training and Technical Assistance with the National Disability Rights Network (NDRN). NDRN is the national voluntary membership association of the state Protection and Advocacy Agencies (P&As), the largest providers of legal services to people with disabilities in the country. In this position, Nachama coached more than thirty new leaders and developed formalized leadership training for the P&A network. She spearheaded NDRN’s peer organizational assessments program and is an experienced strategic planning facilitator.  

At NDRN, Nachama also supported the P&A Executive Directors and senior managers on all aspects of running their agencies, focusing on maintaining a strong public presence, strategic planning, fiscal oversight, navigating challenging situations, ensuring fiscal and legal compliance, diversifying resources, and recruiting as well as maintaining a diverse Board and staff.  Earlier in her career, Nachama served as the Executive Director for nine years 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 comes to this work from a deeply personal place as a mother, wife, and daughter to individuals with several different disabilities including mental illness, physical, and developmental disabilities. Her personal and professional experience drives her passion and commitment to fight for an equitable society where all people with disabilities can freely exercise their civil, legal, and human rights.

Nachama holds a BA from Hampshire College in Physics and Political Science. She has completed certificates of completion for the Leadership Practices Inventory coaching as well as one for non-profit board consulting from BoardSource. She is also a member of the Interim Executive Network.