Lester Edwin J. Ruiz joined the ATS staff in August 2008 as director, accreditation and institutional evaluation. His work includes facilitating accrediting reviews, providing education and support to member schools about the process of accreditation, and providing staff support to the work of the Board of Commissioners of the ATS Commission on Accrediting.

Prior to ATS, Ruiz was a faculty member of New York Theological Seminary in New York City since 1997 where he was professor of theology and culture. He became vice president for academic affairs and academic dean in 2006. A graduate in pastoral care and counseling from Ottawa University (Kansas), he holds the Master of Divinity with an emphasis on religion and society and the PhD in social ethics from Princeton Theological Seminary.

He is co-editor of four published works, including Re-Framing the International: Law, Culture, Politics, with Richard Falk and R.B.J. Walker. He has contributed numerous chapters to books and has been widely published in journals and other periodicals. He received an ATS Lilly Theological Research Grant and a Sohn Foundation Award for sabbatical research in 2005. He serves on the editorial committee of Alternatives: Global, Local, Political, is on the board of Global Education Associates in New York, and is a research fellow of the Institute for Advanced Theological Studies, Central Philippine University, Iloilo City, Philippines.

He is ordained in the Convention of Philippine Baptist Churches (American Baptist Churches, USA).