Ryan McCann
Ryan McCann, M.A., is the Executive Director of the Indiana Family Institute. He started at IFI in 2003 and was chosen by the IFI Board of Directors as Executive Director in 2019, following the excellent leadership of Curt Smith, current IFI Board Chairman.
Ryan is a follower of Jesus, passionate about cultural renewal and God-honoring public policy here in Indiana and nationally. He has overseen the strengthening of Hoosier families through law and culture in areas such as: free speech, religious liberty, women’s sports, parental rights, the right to life, education, and many more.
McCann earned his undergraduate degree from Indiana Wesleyan University. He received his masters degree from Regent University Robertson School of Government. His studies gave him a profound respect for the men and women who formed and built our Constitutional Republic and the ordered liberty they established.
Some key phrases that have guided Ryan professionally:
God is always on time.
God plus one is a majority.
Evil always overreaches.
You can’t save the world if you can’t pay the rent.
Ryan and his wife have been blessed with five wonderful children.
Curt Smith
Curt Smith is the Board Chairman of IFI. Curt’s 40-plus-year career in public policy work includes stints as an award-winning journalist, 15 years on Capitol Hill in a variety of senior staff roles, think-tank executive and eighteen years as President of the Indiana Family Institute.
In 2019, Curt was promoted to Chairman of the Board at IFI.
A native Hoosier, Curt completed an undergraduate degree at IU and a Masters degree, cum laude, at Chicago’s Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.
Smith began his career working for Indiana daily newspapers while also serving as a stringer for The New York Times. He then worked on Capitol Hill as a press secretary, campaign manager, communications director, state director, and chief of staff over a 15-year span for U.S. Senator Dan Coats and U.S. Rep. John Hostettler.
Smith is also co-author of Pause Points: The Mindful Pursuit of Health and Well-Being with Gene Harker, M.D., Ph.D. He is also the author of Deicide: How Eliminating the Deity is Destroying America.
Josh Hershberger
Josh Hershberger is the Director of the Church Ambassador Network and General Counsel for IFI.
Josh is an attorney, minister and speaker. Josh is licensed to practice law in Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee and several federal courts; represents churches and Christian ministries throughout much of the United States and has litigated cases up to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. He also serves as a teaching pastor at his church in southeast Indiana and routinely speaks at churches, conferences and other ministry events about living out the Gospel in a post-Christian culture.
Josh is the author of The Bold Church Strategy: Serving our Way Back to the Center of the City and Persuasion Points: Practical Responses to Culture’s Toughest Questions. He also hosts The Good Citizen Podcast, a podcast dedicated to equipping church leaders and other committed Christians to be gospel-centered citizens in post-Christian America.
Josh lives in Hanover, Indiana with his wife Carissa, daughter Aryana and son Gabriel.