Jake Ryan is a dynamic leader with a diverse background and a deep commitment to his community.

Born on The Fourth of July, 2001, in The Valley of the Sun; he moved to the midwest at a young age due to his father’s work at Caterpillar. Jake spent his early childhood in Singapore, where he attended the prestigious Singapore American School and developed his perspective on innovative governance. He later moved to the midwest for a second time at age 7, after the 2008 financial crisis, and graduated from Charter Oak in 2011, as part of the largest class of PSD150 students to be accepted into the Washington Gifted School in city history. Jake’s experiences then took him to Santiago, Chile, where he became fluent in Spanish and discovered a profound connection to the world around him. After returning to the midwest yet again, he graduated from the Washington Gifted School in 2015 (the best middle school in Illinois at that time) and went on to Richwoods High School, where he earned recognition as the individual points state champion in Scholastic Bowl as a freshman.

In his adult life, Jake relocated to Dallas, Texas, where he helped launch several businesses. His entrepreneurial spirit led him to found an entrepreneurial consulting firm, Council & Associates Advisors, which eventually brought him back to Peoria, Illinois to join a medical technology startup as Head of Business Development. Still only 23, Jake is now making waves as the founder and CEO of Main Street Marketplace, an e-commerce startup helping local businesses compete against giants, and as the soon to be self-published author of Through the Eyes of a Modern Man, his personal critique of modern society.