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.

Karen Hunt-Ahmed is Assistant Professor of Finance and Management at DePaul University.  She received a BA and MBA from Washington University in St. Louis and an MA and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. She has worked in the banking sector in Chicago and in private equity in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.  She is currently teaching Islamic Finance, Microfinance and Business Ethics at DePaul University’s College of Commerce.  Her research interests include culture and identity, Islamic finance, microfinance, globalization, and the sociocultural implications of business practice; she is working on an edited volume entitled Contemporary Islamic Finance.

Dr. Hunt-Ahmed is a Faculty Fellow of DePaul’s Egan Urban Center and serves on the advisory committee of DePaul’s Center for Financial Services.  She is very involved in the not-for-profit sector in Chicago.  In addition to serving as Treasurer of the Board of Refugee One, she is a member of the Board of Haven Youth Services in Wilmette, IL. She is the President of Chicago Islamic Microfinance Project, a not for profit economic development organization providing Shari’a compliant microcredit to entrepreneurs in Chicago.

Karen lives in Wilmette with her daughters and enjoys karate.  She lived in Dubai for many years and has traveled extensively in the Middle East, Pakistan, Africa and Europe.

Marianne To is a full-time mom, homemaker and not-for-profit advocate.  Prior to 2004, Marianne had spent 16 years in the corporate world where she held positions in pricing management, business planning and business operations at Motorola and companies in the medical equipment and home appliance industries for both the domestic and international markets.

Marianne changed her career path to non-profit in 2007.  She studied nonprofit management at the University of Chicago and has volunteered for various NPOs, including World Vision Chicago. Marianne’s passion for the third world countries attracted her to RefugeeOne (formerly IRIM) whom she learned about at a volunteer fair in 2008.  Since then, she had managed two projects for the RefugeeOne management team.  In 2010, Marianne became a RefugeeOne board member.

Marianne is a member of the Women’s Ministry Leadership Team at Harvest Bible Chapel Lake Zurich and a tutor for ESL students at two K-8 school districts in Buffalo Grove and Kildeer, Illinois.  She grew up in Hong Kong and is fluent in Chinese and Cantonese.  Marianne holds Bachelor degrees in Finance and Multinational Business Operations from Florida State University.

Marianne enjoys practicing yoga, cooking, reading, hiking, and traveling.  She resides in Buffalo Grove, Illinois with her husband and two teenage children.

Pastor Meyer currently serves as Dean of the North Conference of the Metropolitan Chicago Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and has been a coordinator of Jewish-Christian dialogue and Jewish-Lutheran dialogue.

Pastor Meyer has been ordained for 33 years and has served parishes on the south side of Chicago and in the southwest suburbs.  He has a Master of Divinity from Luther Theological Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota and a Bachelor’s degree in English and Philosophy from Augustana College in Rock Island, IL.  He is married to the Rev. Christine Nelson Meyer and has three grown sons.