Dan Ryan (born June 21, 1962) is an American non-profit executive and politician who was elected to the Portland City Council on August 12, 2020. Ryan defeated Multnomah County CommissionerLoretta Smith in a runoff election to succeed Nick Fish, who died of stomach cancer on January 2, 2020. Ryan will serve for the remainder of Fish's term, which ends in 2022.[3][4]
Ryan was born in North Portland, Oregon, the youngest of eight children. Ryan was the first in his family to graduate from college. Ryan earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Oregon and took graduate courses at The New School.[5]
Prior to announcing his candidacy for Portland City Council, Ryan worked as an administrator at Portland State University, where he managed the school's first capital campaign.
Ryan served as a member of the Portland School Board from 2005 to 2008, and was the CEO of All Hands Raised, an education non-profit, from 2008 to 2019. Ryan is the third LGBT person elected as a commissioner of Portland, and the first to have been diagnosed with HIV.[3][6] Upon his election in August, Ryan called for an end to the 2020 Portland protests and committed to establishing a "peace summit" between local politicians and activists.[7] Ryan assumed office on September 9, 2020.[8][9]
While living in New York City in 1986, Ryan was diagnosed with HIV. In 1996, Ryan was diagnosed with pneumocystis and was given between six months and a year to live. He then returned from Seattle, where he was living at the time, to his hometown of Portland, Oregon, expecting to die soon.[12][13]
