Ryan Yantis:
CLASS OF 1979
Cordova High SchoolClass of 1979
Rancho cordova, CA
University of Missouri - Arts & SciencesClass of 1983
Columbia, MO
Ryan's Story
Military
Lieutenant Colonel Ryan Yantis was the Director, U.S. Army Public Affairs  Midwest, an Army-level outreach office in Chicago. He led a team of Army Public Affairs professionals responsible for community relations, marketing, special events, public speaking tours and regional media relations with Army senior leaders, soldiers and others of interest on matters relating to the Army. He interacted daily with the public as an Army spokesman on Army policies, practices, issues, events, and crisis situations.
He was commissioned through the ROTC upon graduation from University of Missouri-Columbia with a BA in History. His military education includes the Cavalry (Armor) Officer Basic Course, the Armor Officer Advanced Course, the Combined Arms and Services Staff School, the Command and General Staff College, the Public Affairs Officer Basic Course, and the Program in Joint Communications. Additionally, for a one-year training sabbatical he was a Managing Supervisor, Fleishman-Hillard New York, in the Corporate Communications Division, where he specialized in crisis communication, labor communications, reputation management and litigation support communications.
Yantis has served in command and staff positions of increasing responsibility in Army organizations for 20 years. For the first ten years of his career, he was a cavalry officer leading soldiers at the platoon and troop level in West Germany and Korea, then as an Assistant Professor of Military Science, Mankato State University ROTC. He became an Army Public Affairs Officer (PAO) in 1993 and his first PAO assignment was to U.S. Army Europe, Heidelberg, Germany. While there he helped plan and later execute the media effort for the 50th Anniversary of the D-Day, three U.S. Presidential visits, NATO exercises and Partnership for Peace event...Expand for more
s, and a wide range of issues. He was a media officer for Operation Support Hope, Goma, Zaire and later Kigali, Rwanda (1994); as the chief media escort, Operation Joint Endeavor, Bosnia-Herzegovina (1995-1996); and over twelve major events with NATO forces and the emerging Eastern European democracies. He was the PAO for the 7th ATC/100th Area Support Group, in support of the largest training area and military community in Germany. He was the deputy commander/executive officer for the 409th Base Support Battalion, Vilseck, Germany, responsible for daily operations/base support for over 20,000 soldiers and family members, supervising a workforce of over 800. In July 1998, he reported to Fleishman-Hillard, New York and later ran the Army Public Affairs Office - New York, where he served until June 2000. He was the Personnel and Human Resource Team Leader, Media Relations Division, U.S. Army Public Affairs in the Pentagon, and interacted daily with the Pentagon Press Corps, national, international, regional and specialty media on a wide range of issues. He was present in the Pentagon on 9-11 and was decorated for his actions in the hours following the attack. He facilitated hundreds of interviews with Army survivors, family members and leaders leading up the 1st anniversary of the attack. His efforts contributed to the Army winning the Silver Anvil, the Public Relations Society of AmericaÂs premier award for communications excellence.
His decorations include: the Legion of Merit, the Meritorious Service Medals; the Army Commendation Medals; the Joint Service Achievement Medals and the Army Achievement Medal. He also has NATO medal, the Humanitarian Service Medal, the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, the Armed Forces Service Medal, National Defense Service Medal, and the Army Staff Identification Badge.
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