Ryan Cady

Ryan Cady, CEBT

Division Director

Ryan has over 30 years of eye banking experience and 13 years of tissue banking experience. He started as a per diem with the Missouri Lions Eye Bank & Research Foundation (now Saving Sight) and then moved to New England to learn tissue banking with Tissue Banks International (Keralink) and New England Donor Services (NEDS). Ryan has worked in every role in eye & tissue recoveries with an emphasis on training and evolution of procedures through research and practice. In 2019, Ryan assumed the Executive Director role at the Great Plains Lions Eye Bank at Texas Tech Health Sciences Center. During the past 5 years he has helped improve patient outcomes and provided leadership to the Department of Ophthalmology’s administrative team. He holds a bachelor’s degree from McKendree University and is currently working on his MBA in business analytics. He is a Certified Eye Bank Technician (CEBT) and has served on the Accreditation Board for the Eye Bank Association of America (EBAA) since 2013. Previously, he served on numerous other committees in EBAA, AATB, and as an Advisory Board Member for Life Choice Donor Services (2013-2017) before they merged with NEDS.

A long serving member of Lions Clubs and having a commitment to helping others led to his work in Pediatric Screenings and the KidSight Program while Executive Director of the Connecticut Eye Bank & Visual Research Foundation. A robust approach to resource management and volunteerism garnered him the highest honor given to a Lion- the Melvin P. Jones Award for Humanitarian work in 2015.

Ryan spends most of his free time reading, cooking and traveling with his two children Sarah and Karsten.