Ryan has served in homeless and human service agencies in Metro Detroit for more than 15 years. He joined SOS as CEO in 2010, assuming the role at Lighthouse in 2019 as the two organizations merged. Ryan and his team have expanded Lighthouse’s scope of services to encompass emergency shelter and food distribution; financial assistance; affordable housing and community development; supportive service solutions; and crowdfunding technologies that have contributed to thousands of displaced people getting back on their feet and finding a renewed sense of purpose. He has focused Lighthouse on meeting the critical and escalating emergency and longer-term needs of the working poor, homeless, and otherwise impoverished members of our community who face immense systemic challenges against the backdrop of a pandemic and hyperinflation.
Under his leadership, the organization’s affordable housing portfolio has grown to include 500+ residential units, with more than $100 million in multifamily rental properties currently under development throughout Metro Detroit.
In 2025, Ryan was reappointed by Governor Gretchen Whitmer to Michigan’s Interagency Council on Homelessness. He was a founding board member and served as President for the Alliance for Housing: Oakland County’s Continuum of Care, and is a current member of the Executive Council for the Pontiac Collective Impact Partnership among several other volunteer leadership roles. Ryan is passionate about connecting those with a giving spirit to powerful opportunities to change lives.
