Mary Jean Ryan

Mary Jean Ryan founded the Community Center for Education Results (CCER), a Seattle-based nonprofit, for which she served as the Executive Director from 2010 until March 2020. CCER staffs the Road Map Project, a collective impact initiative working to dramatically improve student achievement from cradle through college in South King County and South Seattle. The Road Map Project aims to build more equitable education systems so that, by 2030, 70% of the young people within the region are on track to earn a postsecondary degree or credential. The Project has a major focus on closing opportunity gaps for students of color and low-income students.

Prior to starting CCER, Ryan served in the Nickels Administration as the City of Seattle’s Director of the Office of Policy and Management. Prior to that she was Seattle’s Economic Development Director having established that office for Mayor Norman B. Rice. Mary Jean also served in the Clinton Administration as the Small Business Administration (SBA) Associate Deputy Administrator for Economic Development working for SBA Administrator Erskine Bowles. Ryan also served on the Washington State Board of Education from 2006 to 2014. She was appointed to that post by former Washington Governor Christine Gregoire.

Mary Jean Ryan has a long-standing interest in a variety of domestic policy issues, including education policy (early learning through higher ed), small business finance, economic development, and workforce development. She is interested in place-based federal policy aimed at helping communities achieve broadly shared prosperity.

Mary Jean Ryan holds a B.A. from Georgetown University and an M.P.A from the University of Southern California. She is a member of the Georgetown University Athletic Hall of Fame.

EDUCATION

• University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA – M.P.A
• Georgetown University, Washington, D.C. – B.A.