Ryan came to St. Lawrence University as the Director of Media Relations in June 2013. Prior to joining St. Lawrence, Ryan worked for six years from 2007 to 2013 as Chief of Staff to the President at SUNY Canton, where he served on the president's executive council and oversaw at various times international education programs, public relations, veteran student services and extended education programs. He also spent one year at SUNY Potsdam from 2006 to 2007 as their Government Relations and Communications Coordinator.

Prior to working in higher education, he spent six years from 2000 to 2006 as a newspaper reporter and editor at the Press & Sun-Bulletin in Binghamton, New York. While working in Canton and living in Potsdam, he has been involved in many local civic and economic development organizations and currently serves on the Board of Directors of the St. Lawrence County Chamber of Commerce.

Ryan is currently a Ph.D. Candidate (A.B.D.) at McGill University in Montréal, Canada, focusing his research on intercultural studies in education and writing his dissertation on the discourse of internationalization in higher education. He graduated with his master's degree in history in 2000 from Kent State University in Ohio his bachelor's from Gardner-Webb University in North Carolina.