Orlando R. Gregory, a former chief and 2nd deputy commissioner of the Detroit Fire Department, has been named executive director of the Wayne County Jail Outreach Ministry (WCJOM).
WCJOM is an interfaith 501(c)3 nonprofit, supporting religious services for inmates during their stay at the Wayne County Jail, regardless of denomination.
The appointment was announced by Maura D. Corrigan, chair of the WCJOM board of directors, and Thomas J. Adams, president of Chance for Life, a nonprofit that offers behavioral and life skills training to inmates returning to society. Adams, who also serves on WCJOM’s board of directors, chaired the executive director search committee.
Corrigan said Gregory’s long experience as a volunteer with prison and reentry programs, including his service as an assistant chaplain at jails and prisons, made him the board’s choice for executive director.
“WCJOM serves inmates on the spiritual level as well as the practical,” explained Corrigan, a former chief justice of the Michigan Supreme Court. “As a longtime volunteer in prison and jail ministry, Orlando Gregory understands that meeting inmates’ spiritual needs is critical to helping them set out in a new and positive direction upon release. And with his background in management, he is well poised to help WCJOM grow and serve more inmates as they re-enter society.”
A graduate of the University of Michigan-Dearborn, Gregory joined the Detroit Fire Department in 1999, rising through the ranks to become chief of the department’s training division in 2012. In 2014, he was appointed 2nd Deputy Fire Commissioner, Administrative Division, where he directed the department’s training and fire marshal divisions. He has served as executive assistant director of Convoy of Hope/Detroit and as a certified instructor and instructor trainer for the American Red Cross. He was named the Michigan Department of Corrections’ “Volunteer of the Year” three times and is also the three-time recipient of the Detroit Fire Department’s Community Service Award.
John P. Trupiano of Grosse Pointe Woods, a CPA who has worked with the Catholic Youth Organization in Detroit, was tapped to serve as WCJOM’s deputy executive director. Trupiano, who is also a Certified Management Accountant and Master of Science in Finance, has extensive experience in the auto industry as a financial analyst and manager and has volunteered in prison ministry. He is a member of the Order of Malta, a worldwide lay Catholic order dedicated to serving the poor and sick.
The search committee included Sr. Peggy Devaney, IHM, co-chaplain of Jail and Outreach Ministry in Oakland County; U.S. District Court Judge Stephen J. Murphy III; and Chance for Life Executive Director Jessica Taylor.
Adams explained that the search committee “was looking for someone who has passion for this work, making sure that inmates are spiritually fed and that they have resources once they leave. We also wanted someone who could take WCJOM to the next level as an organization, including fund-raising.”
Gregory, as a church elder who has counseled prisoners and their families, “is familiar with inmates’ spiritual needs while imprisoned and what they need once they’re released. He can build a jail chaplaincy as well as a program for those who are re-entering society,” Adams said. Trupiano’s background included fundraising experience, “which is key to our growing WCJOM,” Adams added. “The committee concluded that we need both of them.”
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