At 6 feet 10 inches, Micah J. Blunt is easy to spot—spoiler, he played professional basketball in the U.S. and abroad for 10 years—but it’s the heart he has for human resources that sets him apart in his work at Christian Brothers University.
“My work has always centered around serving people,” said Blunt, a Senior Human Resources Generalist who joined CBU’s HR department in late July 2025. “Your employees are your greatest asset. Without them you have no business.”
For the past 20-plus years Blunt has worked in HR management and leadership. Most recently, he built from scratch the HR department at Clover (formerly Kingsley House), a longstanding nonprofit that provides Early Head Start and Adult Day Care for fragile senior citizens in New Orleans.
Blunt graduated from East Jefferson High School and was the first Louisiana player named to the distinguished 1978 McDonald’s Top-Twenty High School All-American Basketball Team. He attended Tulane University on a full athletic scholarship while Captain of the men’s basketball team and earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Education. Upon graduating from Tulane, he was drafted by the NBA World Champion Los Angeles Lakers in 1982.
After a brief stint in the NBA and CBA (Continental Basketball Association), he spent 10 years playing basketball professionally in Europe, where he won five championships in one season (European Guinness Book of World Records) while playing in the United Kingdom (England, Italy, and France and reigning MVP of the English Professional Basketball League).
When he returned to the U.S., Blunt coached NCAA Division I men’s and women’s basketball, twice taking teams to the postseason: Fairleigh-Dickinson University’s men’s team played in the NIT (National Invitation Tournament), and the George Mason University women’s team was the conference champion runner-up. He helped transition Sacramento State University (CSUS) from NCAA Division II to NCAA Division I and into the Big Sky Conference.
Coaching necessitates a lot of traveling and frequent moves if you want to continue to move up the ranks. After many years on the road, Blunt and his wife were growing their family and decided it was time to set the clipboard and whistle aside.
Blunt reached out to a former colleague who told him to call if he ever wanted to explore a career change, and soon he was in a completely new environment as an HR manager in a poultry processing plant with 2,700 employees. From there, he moved to an even larger plant, was recruited by Walmart Distributions Centers, and moved to Birmingham.
As a coach, Blunt had impacted and influenced young people’s lives. In HR, he embraced the ability to serve in a different way and show employees that they were valued. He honed these skills in a variety of industries, including non-profits, gaming, food services, church operations, healthcare, and logistics and distribution.
His decision to join the team at CBU shortly before the start of the 2025 fall semester was the marriage of necessity and opportunity.
After many years in Birmingham, Blunt moved back to New Orleans around 2014. Leading up to the start of 2025, he was serving as Clover’s Executive Team Member, Director of HR and his wife, Patricia, a registered nurse, was looking to continue her education.
She considered Tulane University, where she worked, until funding was cut. Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare was very receptive and would pay for her to complete a residency. Having their daughter in Memphis and a place to stay (thanks to their son who had recently moved from Memphis to St. Louis, leaving a vacant condo) sealed the deal. They were Memphis bound!
Blunt had feelers out, and when he saw the CBU opening on the HR team, he felt it could be a good fit.
“When I did my research, I saw the many grants, scholarships, and opportunities CBU provides students, so they can get a quality education,” said Blunt. “The Mission. The Values. The quality of education. Looking through the curriculum, I saw how intensive and comprehensive the programs were. Students can be successful in life and go out and serve others. I was drawn to CBU’s mission and values.”
Following the example set by his parents—his mother was in church ministry for 60 years and his father was in the restaurant business—Blunt tends to gravitate toward service in all areas of his life.
In March 2015, he founded a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that recognizes and rewards students for making gains in their reading skills. New Orleans-based I.N.S.P.I.R.E. RR, Inc., stands for the Increase Student Performance in Reading Excellence Rewards and Recognition Program. Using the power of positive reinforcement, students in the program earn points for reading books and doing well on quizzes testing their knowledge. Points can be traded in for bikes, electronics, and other incentives.
“One year, we had a fourth grader in the program, and his mother didn’t have a TV,” recalled Blunt. “This child was in the program, reading to get a TV for his mother. What he didn’t realize was that, at the same time, his reading was improving. His comprehension skills were going up. Soon, he was reading on grade level. He worked so hard and read so much, he walked away with a TV, a motorized scooter, a basketball, and a mountain bike.”
Blunt has a great team who will keep the nonprofit going while he is in Memphis. He plans to return to New Orleans monthly to check in and is considering ways to expand I.N.S.P.I.R.E. RR, Inc. to Memphis.
As for CBU, Blunt has embraced his new role, and his colleagues enjoy his spirit and appreciate his depth of knowledge in the field.
“We are thrilled to have Micah Blunt on our HR team,” said Theresa Jacques, Associate VP, Human Resources Director, who serves as Blunt’s mentor.
“He brings a wealth of HR experience to CBU, having served in HR leadership roles across several industries. Micah believes deeply in the CBU Lasallian mission and lives it daily. His quiet and calm demeanor is evident in his interactions with faculty, staff and students and he is a wonderful addition to the CBU community.”
