Ryan Gembala

Ryan Gembala is currently the Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director of H.E.R.O. for Children, Inc., the only organization in the State of Georgia solely dedicated to improving the quality of life for children infected with and affected by HIV/AIDS. H.E.R.O. for Children's innovative programming has provided more than 200 children with 12,000 hours of quality of life care through more than 800 volunteers. University of Georgia sports icon Mark Richt, Georgia Tech sports icon Paul Hewitt, and the legendary Vince Dooley serve on the board of H.E.R.O. for Children. Celebrities including Actor Chris Tucker, NBA Hall of Fame star Dominique Wilkins, Food Network Star and Author Paula Deen and Miss Universe 2005 Natalie Glebova are past participants in H.E.R.O. programs.

H.E.R.O. for Children's tremendous impact on children affected by HIV/AIDS has been recognized publicly by Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue, Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin, and numerous local, regional and national news and print media. International recognition occurred in June of 2005 when H.E.R.O. for Children hosted opening night of a United Nations Conference on AIDS and later that year when invited to India to present its impact before Hewlett Packard, Cadburry Schweppes, Microsoft and 91 international delegations.

Ryan is a multilingual entrepreneur whose numerous experiences in 20 countries have included Banking in Spain, Management Consulting in Italy and volunteering with AIDS orphans in Brazil. He has camel trekked the Sahara Desert in Northern Africa, learned to bullfight in Spain and hang-glided from the cliffs of Rio de Janeiro. He speaks Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese fluently.

Ryan graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of Georgia with a Bachelors of Business Administration in International Business and concentration in Marketing. While at the University of Georgia, he was a Leadership UGA fellow, named Who's Who of 2003 University students and re-founded a national award winning chapter of the international organization, AIESEC, earning him the prestigious Vision Award at the 30,000 person University.

In addition to his full-time job with H.E.R.O. for Children, Ryan is active in Junior Achievement of Georgia, Camp High Five, the Kiwanis Club of Duluth, Hemisphere Inc. and CIFAL Atlanta, a United Nations Training Center.

For more information about H.E.R.O. for Children visit: www.heroforchildren.org.