Ry Kea is a retired Modesto City Schools teacher who now works on Cambodian democracy from the diaspora. He serves as General Secretary of the Cambodia National Party of America and chairs Education, Human Resources, and Labor for the Independent Cambodian Government of October 23, the government in exile Sam Rainsy declared in October 2025 on the anniversary of the Paris Peace Agreements. It was announced through the Cambodia National Resistance Council, the body that carries forward the Cambodia National Rescue Party — the opposition that took 55 of 123 parliamentary seats in 2013 before Cambodia's Supreme Court dissolved it in November 2017 and barred 118 of its senior officials from politics for five years. The government in exile's stated aims are restoring democratic rule, defending Cambodian sovereignty, and confronting state-protected organized crime.
Kea is also Dean of the Dr. Kem Ley Freedom Academy, a year-long leadership program run by the Khmer Movement for Democracy that trains young Cambodians in organizing, public speaking, and community project work. The academy takes its name from Kem Ley, the political commentator and founder of the Grassroots Democracy Party who was shot dead at a Phnom Penh gas station in July 2016, days after he criticized the ruling family's wealth.
