Ryan Leach

Ryan is a distinguished U.S. Army veteran who served from 2002 to 2010, completing two tours in Iraq. During his first tour, he served as an Ammunition Specialist in a unit awarded the Valorous Unit Award; during his second, he served as a Squad Leader in a Military Police/Civil Affairs role.

After transitioning out of the military, he earned a B.S. in Community Health Services from Ohio University in 2013, where he belonged to the Eta Sigma Gamma honor society and the Ohio University Combat Veterans Club. Ryan's commitment to service has carried through two decades of community work across Southeast Ohio. From 2013 to 2015, he served with COMCorps and Rural Action, teaching kids healthy cooking and promoting food access in high-poverty areas. He went on to work at Community Food Initiatives (2015–2017), directing over 100 tons of food to underserved communities; Children's Solutions (2017–2019), as Chief Operations Officer; and the Southeast Ohio Food Bank (2020–2021).

Today, Ryan is co-founder and Board Secretary of Boots on the Trail, leading grant writing, community partnerships, event programming, and digital infrastructure to bring free ecotherapy, trail stewardship, and peer support to veterans across an eight-county region.