Ryan won his first Loerie Award as a student of the AAA School of Advertising. After beginning his career in Cape Town, he set off travelling and working at some of Europe's top ad agencies, collecting an impressive host of awards including Cannes, ADC, Effies, NYF, One Show and D&AD...
In Amsterdam, Ryan founded jointhepipe.org, an NGO that won Best New Initiative from Unicef. He wrote and directed an environmental documentary, which was shown across Europe. Ryan then co-founded The Soon Institute, a company focused on prototyping futures within the communication industry.
Upon his return to South Africa, Ryan has led Native VML as executive creative director. Since then, he's been instrumental in positioning the agency as a serious creative contender in the industry. Under his creative leadership Native VML has been listed number five overall amongst all SA agencies at the Loeries, won the coveted Best Agency title at Bookmarks, and added a plethora of local and international awards to their credentials.
Ryan has judged at Loeries, New York Festival, AdPrint, and ADC, was listed in Mail & Guardian's top 200 South Africans 2014, and in The Media Magazine's Top 40 under 40 for 2015.
