Reentry Strategies: Online Reputation Management with Drew Chapin
By Jeff Grant
Our January 2026 Tuesday Night Speaker Series was a presentation on personal online reputation management with Drew Chapin of The Discoverability Company.
Drew Chapin is the founder of The Discoverability Company, a firm specializing in online reputation management for justice-impacted individuals and executives navigating reputational challenges. He has worked with dozens of white collar justice-impacted individuals to reshape their digital presence and rebuild their professional reputation.
The presentation covered practical strategies for understanding what appears in search results, how search engines and news archives work, and what individuals can realistically do -- on their own and with professional assistance -- to improve their online presence post-conviction.
Drew walked through the anatomy of a Google search results page, explaining how results are ranked and why certain types of content -- court records, news articles, mugshot sites -- tend to be so persistent. He discussed the difference between content that can be removed and content that must be suppressed through the creation of new, authoritative web properties. For many justice-impacted individuals, understanding this distinction is the first step toward taking control of their digital narrative.
Specific strategies covered included optimizing LinkedIn profiles for search visibility, building a personal website that ranks for your own name, creating professional content such as articles and speaking engagements that demonstrate expertise and growth, and leveraging authoritative platforms to establish a positive digital footprint. Drew also addressed the realities of content removal -- which sites have removal processes, what Google's own policies allow, and where removal is simply not possible.
A key theme of the presentation was that digital presence matters profoundly for reentry. Employers, business partners, landlords, and even personal connections routinely search for people online. For someone with a white collar conviction, those search results can be a permanent barrier to professional and personal opportunities if left unmanaged. The good news is that search results are not static -- they respond to sustained effort, and individuals who invest in building positive content can meaningfully change what the world sees when they search their name.
Drew encouraged attendees to start with the basics -- claim your LinkedIn profile, search your own name regularly, and begin thinking about what story your online presence tells. For those who need more comprehensive help, professional reputation management services can accelerate the process and address more complex situations. The presentation concluded with a Q&A session where community members asked about their specific situations and received personalized guidance.
