High Priest & Prophet
Ryan was born and raised in the St. Louis, Missouri area, he is an alumnus the University of Missouri – St. Louis where he majored in Accounting, Management & Organizational Behavior, and Sociology with minor studies in Criminology & Criminal Justice and Professional Writing. He is a member of the Delta-Zeta Chapter Sigma Pi Fraternity International where he served as Chapter Herald, Chapter Education Chairman, and International Ritual Committee Co-Chairman.
Ryan petitioned and was elected to membership by Algabil-Freedom Lodge 636 of the Missouri AF&AM as an Entered Apprentice and was raised to the sublime degree of Master Mason on January 9, 1999. He remains a member at Algabil-Freedom, as well as a 32nd degree member of the Scottish Rite Valley of St. Louis and the Scottish Rite Research Society. As a Noble Shriner of the Bahia Shriners in Orlando, Florida since 2021 he was appointed Assistant Treasurer in 2021 and elected to the 2022 Divan as Treasurer where he served three terms. He is a Past Secretary and two-time President of the Bahia Directors Staff Unit and Past Parliamentarian of the Lake County Shrine Club. Ryan also serves as the 3rd Vice President and Assistant Secretary/Treasurer of the Shrine Treasurers Association of Shriners International. He was elected to the progressive Bahia Divan line in 2025 as High Priest & Prophet.
In addition to his Masonic service, Ryan is a Past Senior Vice President of the Florida VFW Auxiliary District 18, four-term President of VFW Auxiliary 4305 in Winter Garden, Director of the Bahia Sunshine Fund, Secretary/Treasurer of Paisley Hope, Inc. and Secretary/Treasurer of his Homeowners Association. He is also an ordained Minister of the Universal Life Church, which named him a Cardinal of the Church and awarded him an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree in 2020.
Ryan and his wife, Silvia Nijhoff, met at the University of Missouri – St. Louis where she was a foreign exchange student from Inholland University in Amsterdam, Netherlands where she graduated with a Bachelor of Science in International Business and Languages. Together they own Red Panda Enterprises in Apopka, Florida. They have been married since 2015 and moved to the Orlando area in 2016 where they enjoy killing plants because it’s much easier than growing them. He has two adult sons, Collin (Kylie Tull) and Tyler, and a granddaughter, Frankie Jane Harris, all of whom live in the St. Louis area.