Jim Unglaube
Joined the Board of Directors in 2022
I am retired after spending a 50-year career in Lutheran higher education. I served as a professor, then chief academic officer at Lenoir-Rhyne University in North Carolina, then as the higher education officer on the national staff of the Lutheran church, and finally as chief development and planned giving officer at Carthage College in Wisconsin. My work took me around the world, and my wife LaRue and I have continued those travels in retirement. I have been involved in charitable activity throughout my life, with most connections being with organizations addressing social justice issues.
I have known about the scourge of payday lending for some time, and a couple of years ago stumbled on the existence of Exodus Lending. Its involvement in helping people escape from the payday lending world, and its work in seeking legislation to end the practice are a perfect match for my concerns and interests. I reached out to Sara Nelson-Pallmeyer when I learned about Exodus Lending and the rest is history.
Who is one person who inspires you and why?
I heard Elie Weisel give a college commencement address many years ago. I’ve never forgotten it. He said that day and many times over the years: “I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.” While his saying this recalled the suffering of the Jewish people in WWII, it applies, in my mind, to most every situation where social injustice reigns, and calls us to become involved.