Ryan is an accomplished leader. He is currently ‘National System Leader for CEIAG’ at Academies Enterprise Trust (AET), one of the largest school groups in England. He is responsible for the quality of careers education for 30,000 young people across 58 primary, secondary and sixth form schools. Ryan is an experienced senior leader in secondary education and was awarded the Sinnott Fellowship for his work in connecting education and business. He is passionate about helping students connect what they learn in the classroom with how it is applied in the world. Before joining AET, Ryan worked as a member of the Executive Team at the North East LEP, where he established ‘North East Ambition’ and served as part of Regional Employment and Skills Board. In 2015 Ryan successfully led the national pilot of the Gatsby Foundation’s 'Good Career Guidance' benchmarks, working with DfE Officials and Government Ministers, resulting in a new DfE National Careers Strategy in England. Ryan worked with the Careers and Enterprise Company on the regional and national roll out of the Gatsby Benchmarks, including the development of the national careers hub model. In 2017 Ryan was recognised as ‘UK Career Educator of the Year’ by the Career Development Institute and during the Covid19 pandemic he helped to create the careers content for Oak National Academy which was accessed by over 100,000 young people. He is proud to be Vice Chair of Governors at a primary school in Gateshead and a Governor of a secondary school in Sheffield. Ryan has been a National Careers Week Ambassador and is currently an Associate at the University of Derby’s International Centre for Guidance Studies, a member of the Maths4Girls National Steering Group and a member of the Quality in Careers Standard National Consortium Board. He advises the Gatsby Foundation on Careers Education and has supported the development of Careers provision internationally.