Juanita Shanks is the Founder and CEO of FailSafe-ERA, a non-profit organization in Fredericksburg, Virginia. It is designed to provide transformative services to families and individuals impacted by incarceration. Since the inception of FailSafe-ERA in 2009, Juanita’s passion to help the justice-involved and families impacted by incarceration derives from her walk through the criminal justice system with her son. Although he passed away at an early age her fight for reform did not end with his death, it was magnified.

One of her greatest accomplishments is the Inaugural Hall of Change where 17 returning citizens (formerly incarcerated) were inducted into the FailSafe-ERA Hall of Change as Agents of Change: https://www.failsafe-era.org/hall-of-change Juanita is a Veteran of the United States. Army. She has 35 years of experience in the Federal Government, from which she retired August 2017. She held several management positions with responsibility for providing enterprise-wide policy and support in the areas of human resources, installations management, strategic planning, operations, and budget.

One of her greatest accomplishments was championing the Defense Logistics Agency’s resiliency and wellness program campaign for 25,000+ civilian and military personnel.