Our Board of Directors
The Board of Directors at Time Served brings together a diverse group of leaders committed to advancing justice and supporting meaningful change for formerly incarcerated individuals. Our board members work collaboratively to guide Time Served’s mission, championing innovative legal solutions and systems-change initiatives. Each board member is deeply invested in building pathways to opportunity and dignity for those affected by the criminal justice system, ensuring that Time Served remains a powerful advocate for equity, compassion, and lasting impact.
Jerry Blassingame
CHAIR
Jerry Blassingame is founder and CEO of Soteria Community Development Corporation. He endeavors to empower individuals and the community as he advocates for economic and social justice through community and economic development. His passion is assisting individuals who have been incarcerated and helping them to become productive citizens. Jerry is a certified reentry specialist through the Institute of Prison Ministry at Wheaton College who advocates for systemic change nationally. One of his greatest accomplishments was to help pass Expungement Bill H3209 in South Carolina in 2018. He served as President of Correctional Ministries and Chaplain Association at Wheaton College from 2019 - 2022, is a 2019 fellow in the Aspen Institute’s Healthy Communities Initiative, a 2016 fellow of JustLeadershipUSA, and he received the Buck Mikel award for community development from the Greenville Chamber in 2019 and the United Way Spirit Award in 2023.
Don Austin
VICE CHAIR
Don Austin currently serves as the Facilities Manager at the Triune Mercy Center. They share Christ’s love while meeting the physical needs of their parishioners and provide life-changing opportunities to the disadvantaged. Don has personally experienced mass incarceration in South Carolina, and he has benefitted from legal services that helped him break free of that cycle. In 1992, Don started to experience the cycles of addiction, poverty, incarceration, and homelessness. Eventually, Don was referred to United Ministries’ Place of Hope, a day shelter for people experiencing homelessness in Greenville. That’s where the seed was planted, and he was given lots of resources to help him get his life back together. He successfully completed the Overcomers and the C.S.R.C. substance abuse programs and was given a job at the Salvation Army. Don received a full pardon of his entire South Carolina record and dedicates his life now to helping others overcome the same obstacles he did. He has worked at Triune Mercy Center for 14 years, and he recently celebrated 20 years of sobriety.
Taylor Gilliam
SECRETARY
Taylor Gilliam is secretary of the Time Served Board of Directors. After serving most recently as the Pro Bono Director at the University of South Carolina School of Law, Taylor is now an Assistant Federal Defender for the Columbia office. He is a 2011 graduate of The Citadel and received his J.D. from the University of South Carolina School of Law in 2014. The current President of the South Carolina Bar Young Lawyers Division, Taylor has previously served on various committees within the YLD and was named “Young Lawyer of the Year” in 2020. Prior to joining the law school, he was an Appellate Defender at the South Carolina Commission on Indigent Defense. Taylor has handled over 300 cases before the South Carolina Court of Appeals and the South Carolina Supreme Court, including 20 oral arguments. Taylor is also a graduate of the South Carolina Bar Leadership Academy, class of 2019. He is a former Chair of the Public Service Committee of the Richland County Bar Association which recently held its sixth annual “Practical Knowledge for Any Attorney” CLE.