Early Life
Ryan was born and raised in Phoenix, AZ. He attended public schools and grew up camping, hunting, hiking, and all things outdoors. There aren’t many places in Arizona that Ryan hasn’t explored – from the desert valley to the red rocks of Sedona, the Grand Canyon, and pine-trees and mountains of Flagstaff.
Shortly after graduating high school, Ryan left for the military. He enlisted in the Army because, like many young men, he was looking for a change and guidance in his life. He completed basic training, airborne school, and the Ranger Indoctrination Program (RIP) to make his way into the U.S. Army’s elite 1st Ranger Battalion of the 75th Ranger Regiment.
In the Rangers, Ryan found his niche as a special operations sniper and sniper team leader. He was fortunate to attend many military schools to include the world’s premier sniper school, the Special Operations Target Indterdication Course, the Primary Leadership Development Course where he was voted “Best Leader” by his peers and was an honor graduate, the French Alpine Mountaineering Course of which he was in the first group of Americans to ever graduate, and Emergency Medical Technician (EMT-I) school after which he became a Nationally Registered EMT.
After two combat deployments to Afghanistan, Ryan was ready to return home and continue his college education. While attending school, Ryan worked for years as a sniper instructor for military and police snipers. He also taught outdoor-related classes at a local community college.
Education
Ryan received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Political Science from Arizona State University. He had originally pursued medical school, and had completed all of his pre-medical requirements, however, as an older student he decided that he had already had enough sleepless nights in the military and didn’t go to medical school.
However, Ryan needed another challenge in his life. Considering law school, Ryan took the entrance exams and applied to various law schools. Although he had been accepted to many law schools, he was made an offer that he couldn’t refuse from a private school in New England, Quinnipiac University.
Quinnipiac started a program called the “Dean’s Fellows Program” wherein the school offered full-ride scholarships and a stipend to students that would be leaders from within the student body. Quinnipiac flew Ryan out for the weekend, offered Ryan the scholarship, and soon after, he was off to Connecticut.
Ryan graduated law school with honors and with a specialty in tax/corporate law.