Commencement Speaker

2027 Graduate Commencement Speaker - Ryan Keith

Ryan Keith serves as Strategy Director, Alleviate Risks to Children, at Vista One Group. Vista One Group is a strategic advisory group that develops and advises philanthropic strategies and ministry approaches to alleviate risks to children, reach the nations, and engage culture with the Gospel. Ryan leads the development and implementation of the Alleviate Risks to Children strategy, which seeks to remove obstacles preventing children around the world from flourishing as God intended, such as orphanhood, inadequate education, and child slavery.

Ryan earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in politics from Messiah University, graduating in 2002 and a master’s degree in public policy from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government in 2010. At Messiah, he envisioned a future in elected office focused on domestic issues. God instead led him toward an unexpected vocation serving the global church. For more than two decades, Ryan has worked largely behind the scenes to equip local churches around the world to pursue what’s best for children so children encounter the love of God, often without the children knowing who helped make that work possible.

Ryan founded and served as president of Forgotten Voices, which equipped local churches in southern Africa to meet the physical & spiritual needs of children orphaned by AIDS. Forgotten Voices has served over 300 churches and ministered to over 20,000 children; its work continues under local leadership in Zimbabwe and Zambia. Ryan also served as Community Engagement Pastor at nearby West Shore Free Church, where he led initiatives focused on foster care, opioids, and starting the Community Resource Center (CRC), in partnership with local public schools and churches.

Ryan and his wife, Katie, live near Atlanta, GA, with their three children and Haven, their dog. He teaches fourth- and fifth-graders each week at SouthCrest Church and enjoys listening to people share what is on their minds.