Our Founder

Kassy Alia Ray, Ph.D.

Kassy Alia Ray, Ph.D., is the founder and CEO of Serve & Connect, a nonprofit organization focused on fostering positive change through sustainable police-community partnerships. A graduate of the University of South Carolina with her doctorate in Clinical-Community Psychology, Kassy founded the organization after her husband, an officer with the Forest Acres Police Department, was shot and killed in 2015. Under her leadership, the organization has grown from a simple hashtag to a movement dedicated to creating change.

Kassy’s work bridges the gap between law enforcement and the communities they serve, and draws on her personal experiences related to the loss of her husband combined with her expertise in Community Psychology to ignite transformative change in police-community relationships. Her work has been recognized nationally, including a feature on NBC’s Today Show and in Time Magazine, for its impact. She is a member of several boards and workgroups, including the International Association of Chiefs of Police subcommittee on Community Policing and the American Psychological Association's Presidential Taskforce on Reducing Police Officer Use of Force. She has received numerous awards and recognitions, including South Carolina Business Monthly’s NonProfit Executive of the Year in 2021.

Kassy is the proud mom to sons, Salvatore and Silas, and in October 2018 married Mitch Ray. Kassy is passionate about servant leadership, helping others experiencing grief, and inspiring society that “us vs. them” gets us nowhere but that together, we are better!