Our Team
Just Us Solutions was built by people who have navigated the systems they now work to transform. With more than 80 years of combined experience inside carceral settings and across the criminal legal system, our team brings a perspective rarely found in traditional consulting.
We turn hard-earned knowledge into strategy, advocacy, and solutions that create meaningful change. By combining system expertise, community connection, and innovative thinking, we help individuals, families, and organizations build pathways toward stronger, more equitable futures.
Jacob Schmitt
Owner & FounderJacob Ivan Schmitt is the founder and director of Just Us Solutions, LLC, where he leads with both vision and lived experience. He has become a respected voice in justice, reentry, and community systems, building initiatives that improve access to legal support, education, trauma care, and services for veterans and system-impacted individuals. His leadership is defined by strategy, empathy, and an ability to translate vision into practical solutions that communities can rely on.
Jacob’s life story is one of resilience and transformation. A childhood trauma survivor, he spent more than thirty years in institutional settings. Through self-education in law, he strengthened his moral reasoning and cultivated a deep understanding of accountability. These hard-earned lessons now shape his work in developing strategies that bring hope and structure to those who remain entangled in trauma and the criminal legal system.
Today, Jacob’s influence extends from community partnerships to the Washington State Legislature, where he has testified on reentry collaboration and justice reform. He has been quoted in reporting on sentencing practices and featured in interviews and podcasts that explore trauma, accountability, and recovery. In every setting, Jacob holds to a simple belief: when all hope is lost, belief itself becomes the foundation for change.
Rory Andes
Director of OperationsRory is a community-minded operations leader, consultant, and advocate whose life experiences as a combat veteran and formerly incarcerated individual give depth to his work. He serves as Co-Director of Just Us Solutions, where he manages daily operations while coordinating projects that bridge legal support, reentry services, education, and community partnerships. With a focus on building practical systems that deliver real results, Rory is dedicated to guiding clemency efforts, aligning resources, and ensuring that documentation and processes are clear, measurable, and effective.
His career spans nonprofit leadership, program design, and cross-sector collaboration with advocacy and education partners to provide digital literacy, mentorship, and pathways to stability. Rory is also active in shaping policy, connecting with legislation, and helping others understand the language of law as it is written. Known for his calm presence, strong ethics, and meticulous attention to detail, he blends the wisdom of tradition with modern strategies that strengthen teams and sharpen outcomes. Whether building networks, advancing policy, or speaking before an audience, Rory brings both discipline and grace, always leading with the conviction that progress is achieved together.
Micaela E. Romero
Director of Client Relations & Impact
Micaela Romero brings a unique intersection of science, advocacy, and community leadership to Just Us Solutions. With experience as a neuroscience researcher, Human Services Commissioner, community activist, and small business owner, she combines evidence-based practice, public systems knowledge, and strategic development to strengthen solutions that create meaningful impact.
Micaela’s work centers on translating research into action—helping organizations understand challenges, identify opportunities, and build approaches grounded in both evidence and the realities of the communities they serve. At Just Us Solutions, she leads research integration, grant strategy, and organizational development while advancing a vision where knowledge, experience, and innovation come together to transform systems.