Ryan is the Founder and Executive Chair of Bright Blue. He became the Chief Executive in 2014, serving until 2023. Under his leadership, Bright Blue has grown significantly in size, reputation and impact. The organisation was shortlisted for four years in a row as the UK social policy think tank of the year and UK environment and energy think tank of the year in the prestigious annual Prospect Magazine awards .Bright Blue has published over 120 publications. Raised over £6.5 million from a range of commercial and philanthropic sources. Employed around 80 people. Hosted nearly 850 events. And saw the adoption of over 100 original Bright Blue policies by the UK Government.

Ryan is a writer, thinker, speaker and entrepreneur. He currently sits on the boards of organisations in the private, public and third sectors. He was named as ‘One to watch’ by The Observer.

In 2023, he was appointed by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office to be a Commissioner of the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission. In 2026, he was appointed by the Secretary of State for Business and Trade to be a Board Member of the Office of the Small Business Commissioner. Ryan is the Deputy Chair of the What Works Centre, Transforming Access and Student Outcomes in Higher Education (TASO). He is a Visiting Fellow at the University of Bath and was previously a Senior Visiting Fellow at King’s College London.

He was previously a trustee for the Early Intervention Foundation (EIF) (2017-2023), Young Women’s Trust (2014-2019) and the Daycare Trust (2010-2015). He has sat on the advisory council of the National Council for Voluntary Organisations, the University of Bath Institute for Policy Research and Shelter’s Big Conversation on Social Housing. He is a mentor for the Social Mobility Foundation and was a governor of a new secondary school in East London.

Ryan’s research focuses on education, employment and economic policy. Many of his policy ideas have been adopted by successive UK Governments over the past decade. He appears regularly in the national press and broadcast media, appearing on Newsnight, BBC News, Sky News, Channel 4 News, BBC Radio 4, and LBC Radio, and in The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, The Times, The Daily Mail, The Spectator, and The New Statesman.