Archbishop Johnny Riley Jr. currently resides in the state of Texas USA. He is married and they have three children and two grandchildren. He is also President and CEO of Bridging the GAPS (www.thebtgministries.com) an international non-profit group focused on leadership development and marketplace ministry.
He and his wife are owners of the Pitts Riley Group LLC, a multinational consulting firm focus on leadership, business and community development and marketplace ministry. He is the former pastor of Mt. Olive United Methodist Church of Bastrop, Louisiana USA and Hope United Methodist Church in Monroe, Louisiana USA.
While pastoring at Hope United Methodist Church, he and the leadership team had the fast growing church in north Louisiana USA. He was also instrumental in help seven individuals start their pastoral ministry under his leadership.
Johnny Riley is the former Chief Executive Office of the Housing Authority. He served a board chairman of Monroe Homeownership Incorporation, where they were successfully purchasing over $8 million in homes. Recently he was selected by the organization founded by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to speak at the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington in Washington DC. The topic was Reconnecting to Africa: Doing business in Africa.
He speaks in conferences annually all over the world. The locations he has spoken in are Lilongwe, Malawi; Johannesburg, South Africa; Jos Plateau State, Nigeria; Abuja, Nigeria, West Africa; Lagos State, Nigeria; Honduras; Mexico; and Guatemala. He also currently serves as an advisory to many African and Central America countries.
He has served in leadership position of a fortune 100 company. He has also served in the highest levels of State and local government.
Johnny has served as the Louisiana Workforce Commission (Department of Labor) Director of the Office of Workforce Development. He has also serves as Deputy Director – Emerging Workforce of the Louisiana Workforce Commission (formerly the Louisiana Department of Labor) as an appointee of the State of Louisiana Governor. As director, he oversaw all workforce development programs of LWC, including a statewide network of 63 Business and Career Solutions Centers, worker training and apprenticeship, Veterans, Louisiana Rehabilitation Services, Community Service Block Grants, Community Development Block Grants and Rapid Response. He managed an annual budget of $150 million dollars. He was instrumental in providing the labor force during the BP Oil Spill cleanup efforts, the largest man-made disaster in the history of the United States of America.
He is the former Director of Community Affairs for the City of Monroe. As the Director of Community Affairs he managed an annual budget of $10 million dollars. He and his team were very successful in creating countless public private partnerships.
He worked with State Farm Insurance Companies for over 14 years, where he served as a part of the project team to develop the current State Farm Bank, one of the United States of America’s largest virtual banks.
He served on several state of Louisiana boards:
- Louisiana Children’s Cabinet Advisory Board.
- Louisiana Council on the Provision of Governmental Services to Latin Americans, and Louisiana’s Inmate & Workforce Advisory Council.
In the past he has served on several committees such as:
- Boy Scouts of America Louisiana Purchase Council – former Vice President.
- Grambling State National Alumni Association- former president.
- Sickle Cell Anemia Board of Directors – Advisory member.
- Toastmaster International – Past President.