Paul Bardack, Co-Founder and Chair, brings a lifetime of experience to StatesRise. He served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Economic Development at HUD. As a Capitol Hill staffer, he was key in crafting the widely used federal enterprise zone program. In state government, he was the executive director of Maryland’s Small Business Development Center.

In business, Paul developed several online education companies. He chaired the U.S. Distance Learning Association and was honored to represent the U.S. online education industry globally before UNESCO on several occasions.

Paul earned a BA from Yale in 1975 and his JD from American University’s Washington College of Law, where he served as Law Review Notes and Comments Editor, in 1978. He is a member of the District of Columbia Bar.

Paul and his wife live in Silver Spring, MD. In his personal time, he is involved in numerous community, religious, and baseball organizations, enjoys long-distance running, and plays several musical instruments for his three children and five grandchildren.

William Patrick “Pat” Nichols is Co-Founder and President of StatesRise. He is also CEO of Transition Leadership International, where he has served for 30 years as interim CEO of various nonprofits facing crises.

Pat led C4Chicago.org, a behavioral health organization, through a major turnaround during COVID. Previously, he led Global Refuge through a turnaround and in reuniting separated children at the U.S.-Mexican border. He spearheaded the launch of PCORI.org, a $500 million funder of health research, and led the turnaround of SafeKids.org, a 20-country subsidiary of a billion-dollar hospital system. Across his career, Pat has led organizations in the human rights, health, environment, poverty, energy, and other nonprofit sectors.

Pat received a BA in Political Science from Westminster College of Missouri and studied political philosophy at Oxford University. He and his wife are parents to three and grandparents to four. He is an avid bicyclist, traveler, and reader. Though by birth a proud Missourian, he is a perversely enthusiastic fan of the New York Yankees.