NGP LEADERSHIP TEAM

Board of Directors

Rev. Dr. Francys Johnson

Board Chair

Francys Johnson

Francys Johnson is Treasurer of the Board of New Georgia Project Action Fund and Chairman of the Board of its affiliated organization, New Georgia Project. Francys is a noted trial attorney, pastor, and educator, and a progressive thought-leader on race, equity, and understandings of power in public policy. He is currently a partner of Davis Bozeman Johnson Law in Statesboro, GA.

As a zealous trial lawyer, Francys practices criminal and civil law in the state and federal courts. He has secured justice on behalf of the wrongfully accused and seriously injured. He is a Member-at-Large of the Board of Governors of the State Bar of Georgia and the Chief Justice’s Commission on Professionalism. Francys has also served in ordained ministry for more than 20 years. He is currently Senior Minister at the Mount Moriah Baptist Church in Pembroke and the Magnolia Baptist Church in Statesboro.

Francys holds Bachelor of Science degrees in Political Science and Africana Studies from Georgia Southern University and a J.D. from the University of Georgia School of Law. He has taught courses on Criminal Law, Constitutional Law, Race and the Law, and the Civil Rights Movement. He is partnered with Dr. Meca Williams-Johnson, an educational psychologist and professor. They have three sons, Thurgood Marshall Joshua, Langston Hughes Elijah, and the late Frederick Douglass Caleb. Francys lives by the command of Micah 6:8 to love mercy, do justice, and walk humbly.

Danisha McClary

Board Member

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Danisha McClary

Danisha L. McClary is a retired U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) Corps officer and attorney. She is currently licensed to practice law in Georgia where she serves as Assistant Federal Defender for the Middle District of Georgia. She also owns and operates McClary Law and Mediation, P.C., which provides civil mediation services throughout the state of Georgia. Additionally, she is a member of the Board of 4 Horsemen Rehabilitation Services, Inc., in Atlanta, GA.

Prior to her current position in Georgia, Danisha served as the Equal Employment Opportunity and Diversity Equity and Inclusion Program Manager for the Ralph H. Johnson Veterans Administration Health Care System in Charleston, SC. She also served as the First Lady of Andrews, SC, where she founded a local non-profit to provide community and economic development. Additionally, during her time in South Carolina, Danisha also served as the Director of Housing and Long-term Recovery at the Black River United Way in Georgetown, SC and a contract attorney at Motley Rice law firm in Mount Pleasant, SC. She also served on the board of the Waccamaw Economic Opportunity Council, as chair Georgetown County Capital Sales Tax Commission, and as a member of the Georgetown County Accommodations Tax Committee.

Danisha has a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration from Florida A&M University, a Masters of Science degree in management from Troy State University, and a J.D. from the University of Georgia Law School. She also earned a Masters of the Laws in contract and fiscal law from the Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) Legal Center and School.

Rev. Dr. Carolyn Jordan

Board Member

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Dr. Carolyn Jordan

Dr. Jordan is the great granddaughter of Savannah State University’s founder and first president, Richard Robert Wright Sr. In 2017 when Dr. Jordan arrived at Savannah State University she began teaching both the First Year Experience course as well as the Freshman Honors Seminar. Dr. Jordan initially served as the coordinator of “The Wright Choice Initiative” Mentoring Program and currently serves as the Director of the Honors Program. Prior to her arrival at Savannah State University, her career spanned over 30 years in education and includes the roles of early childhood and adult education teacher. In 2001 Dr. Jordan was appointed as the Executive Director of, the CST Academy a faith-based counseling and mentoring program for inmates in the Philadelphia Prison System. The Annie E. Casey Foundation identified this program as one of the top faith-based inmate reentry counseling programs in USA. To date, more than 4,000 individuals have completed a CST basic spiritual therapy counseling course across America and the Caribbean. In 2006 Dr. Jordan served on an Interdisciplinary Team as the hospice chaplain at Phoenixville Hospital’s inpatient unit. During that time Dr. Jordan was appointed as Sr. Pastor for in the African Methodist Episcopalian Church. In that role she was the first woman in over 100 years assigned as their pastor.

Dr. Jordan received her Bachelor’s degree from Temple University with a major in early childhood education (magna cum laude): her Master’s from Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Divinity: and her Doctorate from Lancaster Theological Seminary where her research was an ethnographic study of the Impact of Race, Gender, and Faith on African American Women facing Re-entry after Incarceration. She believes that each learner is an individual person, with individual strengths and weakness. Toward that end she believes that although it can be the greatest challenge teaching brings with it the greatest rewards.

Dr. Jordan is sought after as a conference and seminar presenter and has participated as a presenter in Philadelphia Prison System Annual Reentry Summit, The Annual Christian Community Development Association’s National Conference, Senator Vincent Hughes Breaking the Silence 2-day Summit on Behavioral Mental Health within the African American Community, Andrew Rankin Memorial Chapel at Howard University, AMEC Accra Ghana and was the keynote Speaker for Savannah State University’s Founders Day.

Dr. Jordan holds membership in numerous local, state and national organizations including Alpha Kappa Mu Honor Society, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.; founding board member of Interfaith Center of Greater Philadelphia, Board of Directors National Freedom Day Association, member of American Association of Christian Counselors, Georgia Conference Board of Examiners, and Consortium of Doctors, Ltd.