Ryan serves as Executive Director of Intellectual Property and Licensing / Senior Associate General Counsel for West Virginia University. As the Executive Director of Intellectual Property and Licensing for the Office of Innovation and Commercialization, Ryan leads the legal review and negotiation of intellectual property transactions and the management of WVU’s intellectual property portfolio. As Senior Associate General Counsel in the Office of General Counsel, Ryan focuses on industry sponsored research and innovation engagements; business transactions; and state procurement. Ryan’s primary clients include the WVU Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute; the West Virginia Water Research Institute, the John Chambers College of Business & Economics and its Vantage Ventures; the WVU Research Office; and WVU’s affiliated West Virginia University Research Corporation.
Prior to joining WVU, Ryan had a career as an engineer at Milliken & Company and the Department of Energy (DOE) National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL). At DOE NETL, Ryan led competitive solicitations and subsequent projects totaling more than $36M in funding for cybersecurity research and development, smart grid technologies, energy policy, and energy assurance planning. Ryan attended law school while working as an engineer and began his legal career in 2017 as an associate at Steptoe & Johnson, PLLC, located in Bridgeport, WV. Ryan's private practice focused in the areas of energy litigation and corporate defense matters, including patent infringement. With Steptoe & Johnson, PLLC, he represented a variety of clients, ranging from small local businesses to the region’s largest energy companies. Ryan is admitted to practice in the state courts of West Virginia, the United States District Court for the Northern and Southern Districts of West Virginia and is a registered patent attorney licensed to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). A native of Parkersburg, West Virginia, Ryan received his Juris Doctorate from the WVU College of Law in 2015 and his undergraduate degree in Industrial Engineering from WVU in 2008.