Ron Ekstrand

Ron Ekstrand, President and CEO of Easterseals Arkansas since December 2019, brings over 30 years of leadership experience, including a decade as an executive within the Easterseals movement and 25 years in various for-profit businesses. Under his guidance, Easterseals Arkansas has seen substantial growth, increasing its annual budget from $23M to over $55M and expanding its workforce from 525 to over 1,000 employees.

Before leading Easterseals Arkansas, Ron served as Sr. Vice President of Network Advancement and Affiliate Relations at the national office of Easterseals in Chicago for two years. During this time, he also served as Interim CEO for five months. Earlier in his career, Ron spent eight years at the affiliate level of Easterseals, including a four-year tenure as CEO of TouchPoint Autism Services, the largest autism services provider in Missouri at the time. Ron's leadership at TouchPoint involved a successful turnaround, a name change/rebranding, two nonprofit mergers, and an affiliation with Easterseals, resulting in the creation of Easterseals Midwest with an annual budget exceeding $80M. He then served as President and Chief Operating Officer of Easterseals Midwest for four years.

Prior to his roles within the Easterseals network, Ron accumulated nearly twenty-five years of executive leadership and consulting experience in financial management, insurance, healthcare, and management consulting. Ron holds an MBA from Washington University, where he also served as a part-time adjunct faculty member teaching courses on service excellence. His life partner, Deanna Lewis, is the current CEO of Easterseals South Carolina.