Ryan, currently the program's Head Coach, is the Assistant Dean for Public Service and Director of the Mortimer Caplin Public Service Center at the University of Virginia School of Law. In that role, he counsels law students on pursuing careers in all forms of public service.

Prior to joining the Law School, Ryan was a federal prosecutor for 15 years, most recently as an Assistant United States Attorney, or AUSA, in the Western District of Virginia, focusing on corporate crime, national security, and corruption cases. From 2019-2023, Ryan served as a Senior Counsel with the Computer Crime & Intellectual Property Section at the U.S. Department of Justice. From 2012-2019, he was an AUSA in the Financial Crimes and Public Corruption Unit of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia in Alexandria, where he served as the district-wide Public Corruption Coordinator. From 2009-2012, he was a Trial Attorney with the Fraud Section in the Criminal Division at the U.S. Department of Justice, where he prosecuted mostly government contracting, warzone procurement, and mortgage fraud cases.

Prior to joining the Department of Justice through the Attorney General's Honors Program, Ryan clerked for the Hon. T. S. Ellis, III, U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of Virginia, in Alexandria, VA.

Ryan, who has coached VaMT since 2005, is a 2008 UVa Law graduate. He came to UVa Law after graduating from the University of Kansas. At Kansas, he competed in mock trial for four years, three as the organization's president, winning three All-American Attorney awards in addition to 26 other attorney awards (and one witness award) at invitational tournaments. Ryan helped lead his team to four consecutive National Championship Tournaments, with his greatest team success coming with a tie for second-place in his team's division--that is, until he helped coach UVa to national championships in 2006, 2007, 2017, and 2024.

Ryan was inducted into the AMTA Coaches Hall of Fame alongside Toby Heytens in 2021.