Insha Rahman will be the next president and director of the Vera Institute of Justice and Vera Action, its sister 501(c)(4) organization. A leading political strategist and criminal justice expert, Rahman has served as Vera’s vice president for Advocacy and Partnerships and the director of Vera Action since 2020. She will make history as the first woman, immigrant, and Muslim to lead both organizations. 

After beginning her legal career as a public defender at The Bronx Defenders, Rahman led Vera’s work in New York, including advocating for the passage of a historic bail reform law and serving as staff on a blue-ribbon commission to close the Rikers Island jail complex. 

She has been a chief architect of Vera’s response to the second Trump Administration’s attacks on immigrants, criminal justice reform, and democracy. As President Trump’s Department of Justice cut $820 million in funding for community violence intervention, victim services, and youth and criminal justice reform programs, Rahman organized nonprofit and community partners to file a class action lawsuit challenging the administration’s arbitrary and capricious cuts. She is the architect of A New Federal Paradigm for Safety, Accountability, and Justice, and regularly partners with advocates, experts, and lawmakers from across the political spectrum. 

“I grew up in a society where dignity and equal justice for all was not a given,” said Rahman. “As a proud immigrant to this country, I believe in the promise of America and the imperative to make our institutions reflect the values we hold dear. As leadership in Washington, DC, advances an authoritarian agenda under the guise of crime control, scapegoating immigrants and the most marginalized among us, I’m humbled to take the helm of Vera and continue to fight for real solutions for more safety and justice.”

Widely recognized for her expertise, Rahman has been featured as an authority in national outlets including the New York Times, the Washington Post, Fox News, and Politico, and been a featured speaker at events hosted by Masters of Scale, Global Citizen, Democracy Alliance, the Federalist Society, the United States Conference of Mayors, CPAC, and the United States Commission on Civil Rights, among others. Rahman is a member of the Council on Criminal Justice, the advisory board for the Aspen Institute’s Criminal Justice Reform Initiative, and previously served on the boards of the New York Civil Liberties Union, Dignity & Power Now, and the Brooklyn Community Bail Fund (now the Envision Freedom Fund). A longtime New Yorker, Rahman lives in Brooklyn. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Africana Studies from Vassar College and a JD from the City University of New York School of Law.

Vera’s outgoing president and director Nicholas Turner said that Rahman possesses a rare combination of leadership attributes that will enable Vera and Vera Action to thrive in this complicated moment. “She has vision, integrity, courage, next-level smarts, humility, and a work ethic that reflects deep commitment—all of which have propelled Vera and Vera Action to be who we are today,” Turner said. “I leave these treasured institutions knowing they are in her very capable hands, and I am excited to see where Insha takes them.”