Lori Emison Clair worked with the amazing staff at First Unitarian Church in Des Moines from 2004 to 2015. During Lori’s 11 years on staff, First Unitarian membership grew from 240 to 539. Lori’s position began as part-time Membership Coordinator overseeing a mostly lay-led visitor process to serving as the Director of Congregational Life (DCL), which included overseeing new members and membership integration, coordinating hospitality, Wednesday night programming, community building events, affinity groups, Soul Matters (SGM), adult education programming, and working with the team that redesigned the church’s pastoral care into a neighborhood based Caring Communities model. While serving as DCL, Lori supervised a Congregational Life Assistant and the congregation’s childcare staff.

In addition to her position at First Unitarian Church of Des Moines, Lori helped form the Unitarian Universalist Association of Membership Professionals (UUAMP), serving as the Chair for the Steering Committee that formed the Association, serving as UUUAMP’s Vice President, Secretary, the first Coordinator for their webinar and book series, editor for the UUAMP Hiring Guide unveiled at GA 2014, as well as Chair for the Certification Committee as they sought and received a UU Programming Fund grant to design a nationwide certification program for Membership Professionals.