Rabbi Ryan Hertz (הרב יהודה לייב הערץ) has served in homeless and human service agencies in Metro Detroit for 18 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 and coaching; affordable housing and community development; a wide array of 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.
Ryan 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. Under his leadership, the organization’s affordable housing portfolio has grown to include 500+ residential units, with more than $150 million in multifamily rental properties currently under development throughout Metro Detroit, including the iconic Lee Plaza on West Grand Boulevard.
Ryan is also an appointee of Governor Gretchen Whitmer to Michigan’s Interagency Council on Homelessness. He is a founding member and current Co-Chair of the Pontiac Neighborhood Fund Steering Committee; a member of the Capital Advisory Committee of NeighborWorks Capital and the Detroit Advisory Committee of Adamah; and was a founding board member for Chabad of Greater Downtown Detroit and the Alliance for Housing: Oakland County’s Continuum of Care, where he proudly served as President. Ryan received rabbinic ordination through Machon Smicha in 2026. He currently lives in Huntington Woods, Michigan with his wife and four children.
