Meet the Helpers Networking Gala Event

A strong advocate for the community’s most vulnerable residents, Gerry Brisson has dedicated more than 35 years to improving food security. He believes hunger can be solved, and that addressing it brings greater empowerment and stability to families. Gerry is a founding partner of Know Better Do Better (KBDB), which unites communities and food security leaders to drive the insights and ideas necessary for a future where no one goes hungry. KBDB aims to engage changemakers in food security, chart solutions, and drive progress to the next threshold of impact.

Prior to KBDB, Gerry served as president and CEO of Gleaners Community Food Bank of Southeastern Michigan, the state’s largest food bank. Under his leadership, Gleaners was named the Feeding America Food Bank of the Year in 2019 and received the Governor’s Service Award for Health Impact in 2022. Gerry himself has received numerous honors, including the Eleanor Josaitis Unsung Hero Award and the Michigan Association of Broadcasters’ Best in Class Excellence Award.

Gerry created “The Household Impact Model” to illustrate how food security impacts the short- and long-term well-being of our communities. With this mindset, he served as a foundational member of the national Hunger Education Research Committee to develop nutrition standards for the Feeding America network. He also established Gleaners as a national pioneer in addressing the link between food insecurity and health through partnerships with healthcare institutions, government, and corporations.
For nine years, Gerry chaired the board of the Food Bank Council of Michigan, working with executive director Dr. Phil Knight to create a unified food bank network through advocacy and collaboration. He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in organizational management and frequently serves as an expert panelist regarding the role of food banks in improving community health outcomes.

Gerry grew up in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula on the shores of Lake Superior before moving to Detroit. He and his wife of 23 years, Katie Brisson, live in the area with their four children: Lexie, Nate, Jim, and Ruth.

Ryan Hoyle believes that every young person and every family should have both enough food on the table and a clear path to opportunity. A seasoned business leader and social entrepreneur, he is the co-founder of Know Better Do Better (KBDB), founder of GOALS Professional Services (GPS), and Managing Director of EsperRise. Across these roles, Ryan’s work is focused on one mission: building systems that make food security, education, and work more equitable and attainable.

Ryan launched GPS after 25 years in IT professional services to help mission-driven organizations stabilize operations and scale with intention using his Stabilize-Operationalize-Grow framework. Through EsperRise, he builds on this experience by collaborating with schools and employers to re-engage at-risk students and design inclusive workforce pipelines that connect learning to meaningful, sustainable careers.

KBDB is where Ryan’s most foundational values converge. He believes that in a country where food is plentiful, hunger is a problem we have the responsibility to solve. Together with co-founders Gerry Brisson and Dr. Phil Knight, he helps connect food security leaders and families to accelerate progress toward a future where every neighborhood has the conditions for people to thrive.

His career is marked by extensive board service with organizations such as Gleaners Food Bank and Goodwill Industries of Greater Detroit. Ryan led the award-winning “Outsource to Detroit” and “Outsource to America” initiatives and has received numerous honors, including Crain’s “40 Under 40,” DBusiness’ “30 in Their 30s,” and the Michigan Chronicle’s “Men of Excellence.” He is also a graduate of the Detroit Regional Chamber’s Leadership Detroit program.

Deeply rooted in service, Ryan is an engaged member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, a mentor to emerging leaders, and a husband and father of three living in Michigan. He brings together his expertise in operations and workforce strategy to advance a simple but ambitious goal: helping communities know better, do better, and create opportunity that lasts.

Dr. Phil Knight is driven by an unwavering belief that hunger is a solvable problem — and that solving it requires courage, collaboration, and leadership. He serves as the executive director of the Food Bank Council of Michigan (FBCM), a statewide organization that strengthens Michigan’s network of food banks and improves access to nutritious food for more than 1.6 million residents each year.

Phil’s commitment to ending hunger began in 1994 through humanitarian work in East Africa, where he helped establish the first schools, medical clinic, and community health centers on the Buvuma Islands of Lake Victoria, Uganda. He still speaks conversational Kiswahili — a reminder of the nine years that shaped his understanding that food is essential but never the whole answer.

Since 2003, his work has spanned conflict resolution, organizational culture, political strategy, fundraising, statewide coalition-building, and international leadership development. A licensed professional counselor in Michigan since 2009, he earned his doctorate in religious science and philosophy and is the author of The Diamond Life, a leadership workbook developed through Gray Knight Consulting, a leadership consulting firm he began in 2008.

Within the Feeding America network, Phil has served at the highest levels, including terms on the National Advisory Council and the Public Engagement Advisory Council. In Michigan, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer appointed him to chair the state’s first Food Security Council (2020-2022), where his leadership helped stabilize families during the COVID-19 pandemic and shape long-term bipartisan policy solutions.

Phil’s work has been recognized across multiple fields: he received the Governor’s Service Award in 2022 and, with co-host Gerry Brisson, earned multiple Michigan Association of Broadcasters Awards for their radio show “Food First Michigan.” He also previously hosted The Leadership Lowdown on the Michigan Business Network, where he interviewed executives, public leaders, and innovators shaping Michigan’s future.

Away from work, Phil is an avid reader and golfer who enjoys time on the lake in Northern Michigan. But his focus remains on a single mission: helping to build a food-secure Michigan, and ultimately, a food-secure nation.