James, originally from Portland, Oregon has been a UU since 2005. James joined the First Unitarian Church of Portland in 2005 as a Catholic convert and has been a devoted UU ever since. At First Church in Portland James served on the intern minister committee, the community for the earth committee, as a youth educator, and was a member of the Unitarian choir. James is most attracted to the universalist tradition of our faith community. At OUUC, James has served on the Worship Arts Team and is currently the co-chair of the Ministerial Search Team.
Professionally, James has been an HR (human resources) professional for more than 15 years serving in various HR management positions. James was named the director of the Washington Service Corps in July of 2018. The Washington Service Corps deploys over 700 AmeriCorps members across the state of Washington every year. James has experience in program management, budget and people management. In Portland, James was an elected official serving on the Parkrose School Board and was the co-chair of a political action committee which helped win the closest capital bond measure for schools in Oregon history. Ultimately, this bond was used to remodel schools across the Parkrose school district and rebuild a dilapidated middle school using the $63M raised for the purpose.
James served in the US Peace Corps as a community health educator from 1993 to 1995 in Nicaragua. He has his bachelor’s degree from the University of Oregon in Planning, Public Policy and Management and his master’s degree from Portland State University in Adult Development and Learning. James comes from a bicultural and bilingual family who live in Oregon and New Mexico.
James lives with his husband Brian, married in the Unitarian church in 2009 and legally married in 2014. James and Brian adopted their two daughters in 2010 when their oldest daughter Autumn was six years old and their youngest daughter, Chloe was 4 months old. James and Brian moved to Brian’s hometown, Olympia, in August of 2016. James enjoys biking, hiking, traveling, reading sci-fi, poetry and is an Oregon Duck football fan.