2000 Achievement Award Winner:
Professional Achievement Award
Republished with permission from the HBS African-American Alumni Association
In 1961 when Bob Ryan became the first in his family to enter college, his father advised him to choose a profession where discrimination would least impede his advancement. At the same time, Ryan remembers, the U.S. government was encouraging the nation's young people to study math and science and "a cry went out for more engineers." So following that guidance, he pursued a degree in electrical engineering at Wayne State University in his hometown of Detroit, and was offered a national fellowship to a doctoral program at Cornell. By 1968 he held a masters degree in a field with a secure future. He had a generous stipend from a teaching assistantship, a good summer job, and a brand new car. But the promising young man had never asked himself if engineering was what he really wanted to do. Upon reflection, Ryan decided he'd rather not look back later and wonder what a different life might have offered.
Intrigued by the world of business, Ryan sat in on a class at Harvard Business School. There were few African Americans on campus, but the application process encouraged self-discovery and, when his acceptance letter arrived, Ryan decided to change the direction of his career. After graduating in 1970, he spent five years with McKinsey & Co., then became a vice president at Citicorp working with companies in the broadcasting and cable television industries. In 1982, Ryan was recruited to join the management team at Union Texas Petroleum [then a subsidiary of Allied Signal] and helped put together the financing for an LBO that created one of the nation's largest independent oil and gas companies. During the process, he was invited to become an equity investor in the deal, which closed in July of 1985. At the time, oil prices were at twenty-eight dollars a barrel and Ryan made a considerable investment and commitment to the company. But nine months later, as he relates, oil prices plummeted to eight dollars a barrel. "What I thought was going to be a two year extension of our stay in Houston turned out to be eight years."
"There are two great ways to accelerate your career," Ryan continues. "One is to work in a growth industry that requires you to change with it. The second is to join or stick with a company that is struggling and requires you to grow, if only to keep things afloat." As vice president of finance at Union Texas, he lead a team that traveled around the world to sell corporate debt, and later took the company public - just before the stock market crash in 1987. "Each year seemed to bring a new crisis and a new learning opportunity," Ryan now recalls with a laugh, "but it was eight solid years of tremendous learning, which gave me an unbelievable wealth of experience." Responding to the vicissitudes of both the economy and a high-risk business, he launched several successful organizational initiatives to achieve outcomes ranging from significant cost reductions to the creation of an investor relations program. In the process, he developed valuable relationships with commercial and investment bankers, merger and acquisitions lawyers, and the chairman of the New York Stock Exchange, among others. By 1993 Union Texas was thriving, and after selling his stock, Ryan was looking forward to some well-earned time off to consider his future options.
But he was soon faced with another challenge, and an opportunity to demonstrate his exceptional commitment and values as well as his business acumen. Allied Signal decided to divest its large holding in Union Texas, which could have set in motion a forced sale of the entire company for its reserves followed by massive employee layoffs. Although he was then in serious discussions with Medtronic, his future employer, Ryan agreed to help Union Texas structure a deal that would keep the company alive and independent. Meanwhile, Medtronic generously offered to hold open the post of senior vice president and chief financial officer until the stock sale was successfully completed.
In April 1993, Ryan and his family moved to Minneapolis where he joined Medtronic, the world-leader in medical technology, whose global operations and 20,000 employees generate more than $5 billion in annual revenues. Known for innovation and good citizenship in the communities it serves, Medtronic has twice been named to Fortune's list of the 100 Best Companies to Work For. The corporate functions reporting to Ryan include the controller, global audit, tax, treasury, investor relations, strategic sourcing, administration, shared services, and information technology. Ryan is also a sought-after mentor who advises anyone seeking advancement to welcome frank feedback and to invest time in understanding how organizations work. "People worry about titles and salaries but, particularly in the early years, you should be most concerned with what you're learning, and what value you can contribute," he says, reiterating that a range of valuable experience can often be acquired within one company. "The key to opportunity is gaining exposure to people who can assess your capabilities and talk with you about your future," Ryan concludes, "and I've taught my two children that the biggest disappointments in life arise when we don't take advantage of opportunities that come your way."