2022 World Affairs Council of the Year
Network of Independent World Affairs Councils of America

Patrick W. Ryan

President Emeritus & Founder, Tennessee World Affairs Council

Biography

Patrick Ryan is the volunteer President and founder of the Tennessee World Affairs Council. In 2007 Mr. Ryan organized a group of concerned citizens to launch Tennessee’s first World Affairs Council, to bring global awareness education programs and resources to communities and schools in the state. The Council, responding to the statewide interest in its programs, moved from its first home in Cookeville to Nashville where it is hosted on the campus of Belmont University.

Mr. Ryan was born and raised in New York City. At age 17 he enlisted in the U.S. Navy where he served a 26-year career, assigned first in the Persian Gulf in 1973 followed by assignments in the Submarine Service where he attained the rank of Chief Petty Officer. Mr. Ryan received a BA degree at the University of South Carolina, in 1981, majoring in International Studies followed by commissioning in the Navy as an Ensign. Mr. Ryan served aboard numerous ships, headquarters staffs and overseas assignments before retiring in 1998 as a Lieutenant Commander. Among his assignments were the Joint Staff in the Pentagon, the Center for Naval Analyses, and US Central Command headquarters. He has lived and worked in Bahrain, Italy and Japan and has traveled to about 50 countries for work and leisure.

Mr. Ryan worked as a program manager at Autometric, Inc. in support of technical development projects before taking the position as Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the National Council on US-Arab Relations, a non-profit educational organization in Washington.

Patrick Ryan was the President and founder of Ryan & Associates, an editorial consulting firm based in Nashville, from 1999-2015, specializing in on-line global affairs information resources, especially covering developments in the Middle East.

Mr. Ryan was President of the Cookeville Breakfast Rotary 2008-2009. He was co-Chair of the Rotary Ghana Project, which provides clean water, school literacy and medical support humanitarian projects to villages in Western Ghana. He was award “Rotarian of the Year” for 2009-2010 for his work in Ghana.

Mr. Ryan also serves as founding President of the Tennessee Submarine Memorial Association, on the National Geographic State Advisory Board and on the U.S. Global Leadership Council’s Tennessee State Committee.