Greg Wangerin, Executive Director, has devoted more than 27 years to humanitarian work around the world, serving refugees directly in Asia, Africa, Europe, and now in North America. He spent 21 years working as an international officer for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). UNHCR appointed Greg to nine separate duty stations, including postings in Kenya where he was participated in site development for the Kakuma refugee camp for people fleeing The Sudan, Pakistan where he revamped repatriation programs leading to the voluntary return of 380,000 Afghanis, and the Philippines where he supervised screening of and assistance for “Boat People” asylum seekers from Vietnam and ensured resettlement processing and pre-resettlement training for Amerasian children. Prior to joining UNHRC, Greg was a case manager for Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, the national resettlement arm of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
He joined Interchurch Refugee and Immigration Ministries in February 2002 and has been instrumental in leading the agency to its re-branding as Interfaith Refugee and Immigration Ministries and, finally, RefugeeOne. The re-branding efforts made the agency more welcoming to clients, donors and volunteers of all religious beliefs and have improved the agency’s ability to gain support from corporate funding bodies. Greg attended the University of Illinois at Chicago, and then graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Colorado State University. He completed the Non-Profit Executive Management Program from Northwestern University’s J.L. Kellogg School of Management.
In addition to his passion for helping people who have fled war, terror and oppression, Greg is the proud husband of a professional artist and father of two adult sons. He also spent the early part of his life involved in music. His educational credits include a minor in music; he plays the trombone and piano and in the early 1970s worked tuning, constructing and repairing pipe organs.




Hartwig Zakin is the Operations Manager for
Rev. Douglas L. Meyer is pastor of Lutheran Church of the Holy Spirit in Lincolnshire, Illinois. Having served Holy Spirit for the past 19 years. Since 1970, the congregation has been involved in the resettlement of over 35 refugees to the greater Chicago area, having recently assisted a family from Bhutan.
Reverend Ken Johnson, a long time board member, is the immediate past Board President for RefugeeOne. He has been active in refugee resettlement and advocacy, both internationally and locally, for over 45 years. His interest in refugee issues began in 1965 when he served as Material Aid Supervisor for Tanganyika Christian Refugee Services, a UNHCR partner, assisting in the resettlement of refugees fleeing into Tanzania from Mozambique, Rwanda and Burundi. Since that initial formative experience, Ken has served as pastor of congregations in Illinois, Minnesota, Egypt and Thailand, where he has encouraged each faith community to sponsor and show hospitality to refugees. Ken recently retired as Director of International Student Affairs from The Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. He now spends much of his time and energy serving as an Ambassador for Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services (LIRS) and advocating for refugees through RefugeeOne.
