InReach Thanks Co-Founder for a Decade of Leadership & Announces New Managing Director

InReach is excited to announce that Shannon Baker (they/them) will become the organization’s new Managing Director, effective May 12, 2025, as InReach Co-Founder and inaugural Executive Director, Jamie Sgarro (he/him), steps down after a decade of leadership. 

Shannon has served as InReach’s Community Outreach & Programs Director for the past three years. They first connected with InReach as a user and still rely on the free InReach App to find verified, affirming resources for their family in a state facing growing attacks on LGBTQ+ rights. Shannon brings over a decade of experience in national service, nonprofit leadership, outreach, and executive mentorship. Their leadership is deeply informed by lived experience—as a nonbinary parent of a trans child, a member of the disability community, a survivor of conversion therapy, and a formerly unhoused LGBTQ+ youth. Their leadership will continue InReach’s legacy as a proud trans-led organization rooted in lived experience, community connection, and strategic vision.

"InReach is uniquely poised to meet this moment of rising need with an innovative, scalable tool that’s built by and for the LGBTQ+ community. It’s a resource not only for LGBTQ+ individuals, but also for allies, accomplices, and service providers working to create affirming access points in every zip code. Together, we can transform solidarity into action."
Shannon Baker
Incoming Managing Director

Shannon succeeds InReach’s co-founder and inaugural executive director, Jamie Sgarro, who will step down on May 9th, 2025 after more than a decade of transformative leadership. In Fall 2025, Jamie will join the ACLU of Missouri as a Skadden Fellow, where he will focus on advancing trans justice. He will remain on InReach’s governing board of directors.

Since the age of 21, Jamie has dedicated the first chapter of his adult life and career to founding and leading InReach (fka AsylumConnect). Over the past decade, he has transformed InReach from an initial idea into a nationally recognized nonprofit behind the world’s first open source verified LGBTQ+ resource platform. Under Jamie’s leadership, InReach has trained and mobilized hundreds of volunteers to advance its mission, scaled its free platform to list thousands of verified services across all 50 U.S. states, D.C., and U.S. territories, and connected nearly half a million LGBTQ+ people with the safe, affirming resources they need to thrive. He has secured national media coverage and $2 million in funding from major funders and leading companies in a severely underfunded issue area, and built numerous in-kind partnerships that have powered InReach’s growth. 

For his contributions to InReach, Jamie has earned national and international recognition for outstanding innovation in social impact. His honors include being named to the Clinton Foundation’s 2017 CGI U Alumni Honor Roll, a 2019 Roddenberry Fellow, a 2020 Forbes 30 under 30 honoree in Law & Policy (North America), and leading InReach to be recognized on Fast Company’s 2023 ‘Most Innovative Companies’ list. He has advocated for LGBTQ+ rights at influential venues including the World Justice Forum in The Hague, the United Nations Headquarters in New York City, Capitol Hill, and universities across the country. 

"I will always be grateful for this organization. It was through my involvement with InReach that I found the strength to live freely in my own life. During my transition, I relied on the InReach App to access affirming legal, medical and mental health support—and I experienced firsthand the life-saving potential of this platform to connect LGBTQ+ people to the resources they need to step into the next stage of their lives. I’m thankful to the staff, board, advisors, volunteers, interns, partners, donors, and funders—past and present—who have made InReach’s work possible. I’ve also had the opportunity to work closely with Shannon, whose journey from InReach user to staff member and now Managing Director speaks to their deep commitment to our mission. I’m proud to welcome them into this role and look forward to continuing to support InReach’s mission as a founder and board member."
Jamie Sgarro
Co-Founder & Outgoing Executive Director
“We are deeply grateful for Jamie’s decade of vision and dedication, which have shaped InReach into the vital tool it is today and empowered nearly half a million people to connect with safe resources. Now, we are thrilled to welcome Shannon Baker to the helm. Their proven leadership and deep personal commitment to InReach’s work inspires confidence as we move into this next chapter and strive towards a goal of one million lives served.”
Christina Tong
Governing Board Chair

This transition marks an exciting new chapter for InReach. With Shannon stepping into the role of Managing Director, InReach will continue building on a strong foundation and remain committed to its mission to ensure every LGBTQ+ person has access to the verified resources they need to thrive.

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