Polls for the 2026 election for Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) Boards, Committees, and Commissions will be open throughout June, and the results will be announced at General Assembly (GA) 2026. Please take a moment to read through our helpful information sheet (PDF) on what you need to know about voting this year.
Candidates for Position #5 on the UUA Board of Trustees
Each candidate is running for a 3-year term ending at GA 2029. A candidate forum will be held at a date and time in early June. More information will be made available soon.
Terry Grim
This candidate was elected by the UUA Nominating Committee to serve a 3-year term in Position #5 of the UUA Board of Trustees.
Candidate Statement
Terry Grim is a professional futurist whose work focuses on aiding organizations through change and strategic decision-making by exploring potential future directions. Her career includes 30 years at IBM in technical, management, and strategic roles, followed by teaching foresight at the University of Houston and consulting as a founding member of a futures consulting firm. Her academic background includes computer science, studies of the future, and organizational psychology. Throughout her career, she has supported efforts to build more inclusive organizations where diverse voices are heard and valued.
Growing up internationally shaped her worldview early in life, fostering a deep appreciation for cultural diversity, a core belief in the dignity and value of every person, and a lasting sense of the interconnectedness of all life. She found a natural home for these values within Unitarian Universalism.
Within her congregation, Grim has served in leadership roles, including President and Vice President, and continues to serve as a worship associate and participant in several ministries. She has also been active in the Association of Professional Futurists, serving on its board and chairing development of its code of ethics. She participates regularly in social justice efforts and helps organize local community events such as No Kings.
She and her husband, her partner for 50 years, have one grown son and share a love of cats, camping, gardening, and staying active. She believes Unitarian Universalism calls us to imagine the future boldly, care widely, and act courageously for justice.
Online Campaign Presence
Coming soon!
Larry Ladd
This candidate submitted a petition, which was approved by the Secretary, to serve a 3-year term in Position #5 of the UUA Board of Trustees.
Candidate Statement
As a child in the late 1950s, Larry occasionally attended services at the First Unitarian Church of Providence, where his aunt and uncle were members. Up front was Bill Jones, the assistant minister who was of African descent. Larry didn’t know how unusual that was, even as he returned back to his white congregation in Grafton, MA. Bill Jones never served another congregation after Providence, his experience being, in a subtle word of the times, “disappointing.”
Today, that white congregation in Grafton, where Larry grew up, is celebrating the tenth anniversary of the ministry of a minister born of Haitian immigrants. And Bill Jones stayed in ministerial fellowship with the UUA, had a successful academic career, wrote the book “Is God A White Racist? A Preamble to Black Theology,” and went on to serve on the UUA Board and receive the Award for Distinguished Service to Unitarian Universalism.
Stories like these make Larry optimistic that Unitarian Universalism can become the liberating faith its theology promises. He has devoted much of his volunteer time to that promise. “I’m not done yet,” he says.
We know the future that we seek. We don’t agree on how to get there. We do know that it requires optimism, care, persistence and focus, characteristics Larry has demonstrated throughout his volunteer career in Unitarian Universalism.
Larry’s spiritual practice is grounded in the UU Fellowship of Falmouth, MA. A former president, he recently chaired its ministerial search committee. He ia a welcoming greeter, the chair of the denominational affairs committee, and an occasional preacher. UU Falmouth has been an honor congregation with the UUA since that designation was created.
He has served Unitarian Universalism since he became a youth leader and anti-racist activist, including three terms as UUA Financial Advisor, chairing the board of Meadville Lombard Theological School, and advising the Starr King School for the Ministry.
The UUA board needs the stability and the institutional knowledge Larry will bring. When its two longest serving members complete their six years of service this June, the remaining nine members will have an average of 2.3 years of service each. Four of the nine will have completed one year or less. You can’t make change if you are busy trying to figure out how things work.
The theme of his candidacy is “Liberate Unitarian Universalism,” a bombastic assertion but also an optimistic one. The Commission on Institutional Change described our governance as overly complex and as frustrating to volunteers. It gives many people authority to stop change but offers few channels to more fully live out our mission. Larry knows that culture well and will encourage its transformation. Because of his experience within the culture, he can hit the ground running to help change it.
Professionally, Larry has been a leader, board member, or consultant with a wide variety of not-for-profit organizations. Those entities include Harvard, Tuskegee University, Consumer Reports, Girl Scouts USA, Rotary International, and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, His expertise, in governance, finance, and strategy, is needed by the UUA.
He will be grateful for your vote and will work to earn your continued trust.
Online Campaign Presence
Review the full slate of candidates for election at GA 2026.
The Election Campaign Practices Committee carries out the UUA’s Election Campaign Policies.