ORU alumnus David N. Ray joins the faculty as an experienced professional in both multimedia production and adult learning, with 18 years of delivering content for billion-dollar brands. His productions have garnered 37 Telly Awards – an international standard of excellence for advertising agencies, production companies and corporate media – and by invitation he now sits on the organization’s judging council.
A “sight and sound” practitioner, he views his God-given creative success as a platform to go where the Lord’s light is seen dim (sight) and voice is heard small (sound). His vision is to inspire students to unleash their own transformative Kingdom influence as skilled, Spirit-empowered storytellers.
Before returning to ORU, Ray served as a managing writer, producer, director, and editor for Southern Company, the second-largest energy provider in the United States. In this role he stood up the natural gas division’s first full-service production studio, located at its corporate headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, creating content for the division and the full 30,000-employee enterprise. In just five years his work earned 35 Telly Awards, including three Golds that bested entries from global brands such as AT&T, Comcast, TelevisaUnivision, and Nike.
Previously, Ray worked as a corporate storyteller for Norfolk Southern, a FORTUNE 300 freight railroad. As the hands-on assistant manager and lead writer for the in-house media department that produced more than 100 projects a year, he scripted, produced and directed its largest internal media projects. As the company’s on-camera personality, he anchored the CEO’s quarterly studio program and traveled the system interviewing front-line employees, senior executives, industry partners, railfans, the governor of Georgia, and members of Congress.
Interwoven with his media work is Ray’s expertise in adult learning. In the classroom, Ray earned certifications from industry leaders such as Franklin-Covey, Senn Delaney, and Paradigm Learning, to teach professional development courses for management employees across the rail enterprise. As an award-winning instructional designer, he crafted creative learning solutions for Southern Company, Norfolk Southern, and FORTUNE-50 retailer Walgreens.
Professor Ray earned a B.A. in Organizational-Interpersonal Communication from Oral Roberts University, and an M.F.A. in Script and Screenwriting from Regent University. He is currently an associate professor of media in the College of Arts and Cultural Studies at ORU.