ANNOUNCEMENT: Restoring Justice Names its New CEO!

We're raising up a new dynamic leader and we want you to know about it!

Since its origin, the Restoring Justice mission, vision, values, and team have consistently been stewarded by its Founder and CEO, Drew Willey, along with an actively engaged Board of Directors. In our seven years of existence and under the leadership of Willey, RJ has rendered holistic & Christ-centered indigent defense in an authentic way, with the goal of constantly growing and evolving. Consequently, this present season includes welcoming a new CEO who will champion the strategic vision and goals of the organization. Since this focused task requires an individual with leadership skills, legal expertise, and a passion for working in this space, the Board is pleased to announce that we extended an offer to Kevin Coker to take the helm as the new CEO. We believe that Kevin is the best individual to lead Restoring Justice into the next and best version of service and we're delighted that he's accepted the position, effective July 3, 2023.

Kevin is a Houston native, Morehouse College and Vanderbilt Law School alum, who brought his passion and years of client-centered public defense representation experience to Restoring Justice in June 2022. It has been clear that Kevin will be a national influential leader for public defense innovation, and we’re beyond excited to realize that future today. 

With Restoring Justice looking to grow, current leadership and board members have worked together to develop a healthy succession plan. After the transition period, Willey will continue to support our team and mission in his role on the Board. Kevin is already deeply committed to Restoring Justice’s core values and mission, supporting us moving forward at a critical point in our evolution. He is already working every day to shift the culture of indigent defense in Houston and empower future change agents. Together, we will continue Restoring Justice’s legacy of allowing client-centered work to lead to systemic change in our criminal legal system. Restoring Justice’s future is brighter than ever with a dynamic team, including Monique Joseph, Claudia Mancillas, and Tyne Dickson. Alongside Kevin’s leadership, everyone connected to Restoring Justice will realize our mission more each day. We still have so far to go. Now is the time for more people to join us in fearless love - until everyone is free!