Full name: James Reid Ayres
People know you as: Jim
Date and place of birth: February 27, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania
Address: Haydenville
Years living in Hampshire County: 22
Job: Executive Director,
United Way of Hampshire County
Who lives under the same roof as you? My wife, Keira Durrett, and our sons Jackson
(5 years) and Nate (21 months)
Education: BA—Hampshire College;
MBA—Isenberg School of Management, UMass, Amherst; and MA—Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University
Pets: Annie and Little Joe, our dynamic dachshund duo
Hobbies: Beekeeping, playing music (guitar, mandolin, bass and banjo), cooking and traveling
Book you’d recommend to a friend: “Bridge of Sighs” by Richard Russo
Favorite movie: One flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
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Five items you can’t live without:
Gardening tools, my slippers, my iPad, my kitchen knives and hot sauce
Last thing you purchased just for fun: A new bicycle
Life-changing experience: I began, as a volunteer, while in college, working with new immigrants, refugees and their children, to help them learn the language and adjust to their new communities. I remain humbled by the challenges, sacrifices, commitments and hopes so many shared with me. It has reminded me of what not to take for granted, and what we can all do in our communities to support, welcome and acknowledge one another.
Strangest job you ever held: I marketed frozen daiquiri mixes in supermarkets in rural Pennsylvania—imagine being accosted in the frozen foods aisle by a young guy with a long blonde mullet and a blender, dressed
in faux Hawaiian attire. That was me.
A little-known fact about you: I appeared on Sesame Street multiple times as a five-year-old.
Dumbest thing you ever did: Grow the aforementioned long blond mullet
One trend you’d like to see return: People volunteering for causes they care about |
Best advice you ever got: Always begin by listening… and don’t eat yellow snow
Favorite place to get a bite:
La Veracruzana
Your favorite team or athlete:
Red Sox
Whom do you most admire? People who stand behind what they value
What does your ideal weekend look like? Flexible time to spend with family, with friends, exercising and doing jobs around the house, garnished with a few moments alone
What gives you the creeps? Marshmallow Peeps
People who knew you in high school
thought you were: Allergic to authority
Parting shot: I can’t think of a better and
more satisfying way to work for what I care
about in my community than by leading
United Way of Hampshire County. It is an
honor to be here.
UWHC thanks the Daily Hampshire Gazette for giving us permission to borrow their familiar weekly Hampshire ID Profile format for this introduction. |
