Ryan was born and raised in Toledo, Ohio.  Growing up, school wasn’t always his favorite endeavor.  So, in 1995 right after he graduated from high school he decided to forego college and enlist in the United States Navy.  Ryan told us that he saw a picture of the submarine branch on the wall of the recruiting office and asked about serving there.  He was told that submarine duty is tough, but it paid more than the surface Navy, and the sailors he would serve with were a tight knit group.  He ended up joining the crew of a 633 Sturgeon Class Submarine, named the U.S.S. William H. Bates which was based in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.  He served 4 years in the Navy and was honorably discharged in 1999 as an E-5 Petty Officer Second Class. 

 

After his time in the Navy, he was ready for college.  Ryan moved back home to Toledo and enrolled at the University of Toledo.  He received a BA in Business Administration with an emphasis in Human Resources Management.  After college he worked in the hospitality field for large hotel chains like Crown Plaza and Clarion in their Human Resources departments.  One particularly cold day in January of 2008 at his home in Toledo, he realized that he had enough of the cold and gray Ohio winters.  Ryan knew he had to make a change.  He had visited a lot of places around the country but he fell in love with Scottsdale.  Just like that, Ryan sold everything except his house in Toledo, and moved down here. 

 

Not long after he moved to Arizona, he faced another of those unpredictable occurances in his life.   Ryan got in a fairly severe car crash outside of Casa Grande.  Luckily no one was hurt, but his car certainly was.  Rather than sitting around doing nothing while his car was being fixed, he decided, what the heck, let’s go see more of the world.  Ryan flew to Portugal and with his backpack and Euro Rail Pass in hand he went on to explore Europe, making the best out of a tough situation.

 

When his car was fixed, he came back to the valley and got a job at the human resources firm Paychex in Phoenix.  Soon after, Ryan met his wife, and soul mate Allison.  They were married in 2011.  Everything was going to plan until he learned, while on a visit to his family in Ohio, that his sister was having real, and debilitating, problems.  Ryan knew that he and his new wife Allison would have to step in and help.  His sister’s son Isaiah needed a new home.  So right then and there Ryan told him to pack a bag, and they all headed back to Arizona with Isaiah essentially joining Ryan and Allison as family.  That was 11 years ago when Isaiah was 8 years old.  In a fitting testament to Ryan and Allison’s upbringing of Isaiah, he is soon going to follow in his Uncle Ryan’s footsteps and join the Navy.  His sister is doing much better now, but without that intervention it could have been very serious.

 

As his career progressed, Ryan wanted to continue his education by earning his Masters in Business Administration (MBA).  He enrolled in the highly regarded Colorado State University online program.  Ryan graduated with his MBA in 2015 and took on bigger roles in the HR departments of companies like Automatic Data Processing and West Pharmaceuticals.  

 

Over time the grind of corporate life was getting to Ryan.  In 2020 he decided to go into business for himself in real estate sales.  It was a natural choice for him because he had been investing in real estate his whole life.  He never sold his first house in Toledo and even took some of the money he earned in the Navy to finance some rental property here in the local area.

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For the first time in his life he was his own boss and loved it.  With the added time he made for himself, Ryan finally had the time to get more involved in our community.  He joined Scottsdale Leadership Class 36 which graduated in 2022.  Ryan loved that experience and still stays in touch with his classmates.  He is also very active in the Scottsdale Chamber of Commerce and chairs their Economic Development Committee.  

 

It is said that the Navy trains it’s sailors to be able to make quick and decisive decisions because when you are out in the open ocean it could literally save your life.  Ryan has taken what he learned from the Navy and created a life of service beyond the military.  We all agreed that military service can give the men and woman who serve the tools they need to be great citizens when they return to civilian life. that   Ryan certainly fits that bill.

 

We are very fortunate to have him as part of our Scottsdale Leadership family.