Jim Priest

Jim Priest is president and CEO of Goodwill Industries of Central Oklahoma. He is a husband, dad, granddad, attorney, author, speaker, and ordained minister in The Church of the Nazarene. Priest was a trial lawyer focusing on employment and civil rights law for more than 34 years and prior to Goodwill, served as the CEO of another large nonprofit in Oklahoma City. Priest is the author of many newspaper and magazine articles as well as three books: Family Talk, a compilation of his monthly newspaper columns, What’s Your Fate, with co-author Reggie Whitten, and Changed Lives, with co-author Bob Burke. Priest currently writes a weekly blog and monthly columns for The Journal Record newspaper and Metro Family Magazine. In his free time. he enjoys the outdoors, biking, and hiking. Priest and his wife, Diane, have been married for 43 years and have two adult children, Amanda, married to Martin Howell, and Spencer, married to Haylie Priest, and is training to be a world class granddad to his namesake grandson, James Howell. He is still owned by his dog, Jeter, who was born on the day Yankee shortstop Derek Jeter got his 3,000th career hit.