Author: Amanda Franks

After leading Care Net Peninsula for nearly six years, Kimberly Logsdon is stepping down this Spring. The Board of Directors performed much ‘due diligence’ in evaluating candidates and is delighted that Ryan Holloway answered God’s call to serve in this role. Ryan is the first male Executive Director in the ministry’s 33-year history.

Born and raised on the Peninsula, Ryan brings an MBA from Regent University, service on the mission field, and successful executive experience at multiple non-profits. Kimberly recently interviewed him over coffee.

Tell us about yourself. I have been married to Caroline for 11 years. We met at James Madison University. We have four children, James (8), Penny (5), Claire (2), and are currently expecting a baby. We are very involved at Coastal Community Church. It’s a big part of our life.

You’ve been an exec at a national health charity and a global ministry, but you started vocational life in the Dominican Republic. What did you do there? My wife and I served as full-time missionaries for Students International, which creates ministry sites to help local impoverished communities in a variety of ways. Then students from across the U.S. can come alongside on shorter missions, working beside the staff. I started a microfinance site and my wife led the social work ministry. I helped small entrepreneurs in the community (mostly women) start businesses out of their impoverished and broken homes.

How did that experience prepare you for this mission field? I arrived with this Word document business plan to start the ministry and was walking down a street with the document in my hand, this plan, and thinking in shock “How am I ever going to get this to work in the real world?!” But I had a good leader and good ‘river banks’ of encouragement to make it happen. I had to learn many different things, from Spanish to accounting to fill in the blank. I learned how to figure things out as I go and how to implement good ideas in positive ways. Those lessons have dramatically impacted the way I lead, my understanding of how nonprofits work, my ability to fundraise, all those things.

More significantly, it was a window into the lives of moms working hard to survive amid severely challenging difficulties.