Introducing Nimisha
Next Stage welcomes Nimisha Patel, who has stepped into the role of Vice President, Impact for Nonprofits. She brings a wealth of experience and commitment to driving positive change. With a strong background spanning business, health care and nonprofits, Nimisha has expertise in enterprise strategy with a particular emphasis on leading teams through innovation and human-centered design.
Nimisha’s career portfolio includes a combined 10 years of professional experience at UNC Health and Duke Health. Here she focused on nursing quality, consumer and clinician experience, innovations and population health across ambulatory and acute-care settings.
She believes that cross-industry insights lead to pioneering solutions. In 2015, when digital health started taking root, Nimisha saw an opportunity to learn from an industry that was more advanced in delivering digital consumer experiences. She joined Live Nation’s Ticketmaster in their mobile studio as a product owner. Equipped with new knowledge and experiences, Nimisha returned to health care and ventured into the realm of social innovation at Health Leads. Nimisha led the National Innovation & Design team at Health Leads to research and develop approaches for addressing social drivers of health at scale.
Before Next Stage
Before Next Stage, Nimisha served as founder and principal consultant of her own company, The New Guard. Nimisha sees The New Guard as an entrepreneurial effort that embodies the redistribution of power and approaches problem-solving through a co-creation model. The New Guard has partnered with teams advancing solutions for equity among persons giving birth in the U.S. and caregiver sustainability and well-being.
For the last several years, Nimisha has been involved in developing a culturally centered brand in the hotel space, a business deeply rooted in her family and community over three generations. Consistent with all her endeavors, Nimisha has spearheaded the exploring and validating of how to challenge the status quo. The central aim is to create experiences that result in meaningful impact of designed places that bring people together and strengthen communities. This venture prompted Nimisha and her family to relocate to Charlotte in 2021.
Recently, Nimisha has been asked to serve as Vice Chair for BOOM’s board, an artist-led organization that celebrates arts on the fringes of popular culture. She frequently guest lectures in the UNC-Chapel Hill’s Shuford Program in Entrepreneurship, where she coaches a group of 20 undergraduates each fall.
A graduate of UNC Chapel Hill herself, Nimisha earned a Bachelor of Science in Public Health and a Master’s in Health Administration. Nimisha was born in Leicester, England and immigrated to the United States with her family when she was one and has been a North Carolinian since the age of four.
In Her Own Words
I’m so thrilled to join a Charlotte-based company committed and focused on impact across many domains of well-being. I’m confident that Next Stage will be a place where I can express my strongest held beliefs on how to make progress among some of the most persistent and complicated issues we face as a society. I have found that building effective relationships across differences unlocks value in so many forms – happiness, maximized impact, belonging, and excellence – to name a few. I was drawn to Next Stage because they recognize that and are doubling down on that very principle.
Over the last two and half years, Charlotte and its cultural pioneers have welcomed me, my family and our ideas into the city with open arms. For that, I will always be grateful. I’m feeling especially ready to step into a role that will create a path for me to build a deeper connection with the people living in Charlotte and together making impact on what matters most to them.
Thanks for inviting me onto the team, Next Stage!