Turner is a former member of CCJ’s Board of Trustees.
Nicholas Turner joined is president and director of the Vera Institute of Justice and will join the Ford Foundation as executive vice president in May 2026. After joining Vera in 2013, Turner led the organization through a significant transformation—marked by a focus on racial justice, building capacity to move innovative policy change at scale and shape public debate, and a commitment to assert itself as a field anchor and defender.
Prior to Vera, Turner was a managing director at The Rockefeller Foundation, providing leadership and strategic direction on key initiatives, including transportation policy reform and redevelopment in New Orleans to advance racial and socioeconomic justice.
Turner began his career as an attorney and associate in the litigation department of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison in New York and served as judicial clerk for the late Honorable Jack B. Weinstein, United States District Judge in Brooklyn. In addition, he worked with court-involved, homeless, and disconnected young people at Sasha Bruce Youthwork, a youth services organization in Washington, DC.
Turner holds a BA in history from Yale University and a JD from Yale Law School. He is a current trustee for Activating Change, the Council on Criminal Justice, and The Joyce Foundation, and is chair of the Advisory Board of the Policing Project at NYU Law. Turner serves on the Leadership Advisory Council for the Tsai Leadership Program at Yale Law School and the Independent Commission on New York City Criminal Justice and Incarceration Reform.
