Evan Ryan has held senior positions at the White House and the State Department in three presidential administrations. She has excelled at building bridges—within administrations, between the White House and the country, and between America and the world.
Most recently, from 2021 to 2025, Ryan served as cabinet secretary and assistant to the president under President Joseph R. Biden. In that role, she was the principal liaison between the White House and the heads of federal agencies and departments. During the Obama administration, she was assistant secretary of state for educational and cultural affairs, responsible for more than 100 public diplomacy and exchange programs, including the Fulbright Program. Her initiatives there included Our Cities, Our Climate, in partnership with Bloomberg Philanthropies, Global Media Makers and the Digital Communication Network. She also served as special assistant for intergovernmental affairs and public engagement to Vice President Biden, connecting the White House to state and local electeds and key constituency groups. She worked closely with the vice president on the implementation of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, including hosting weekly calls with governors and mayors to track progress. Earlier, in the Clinton administration, she was special assistant to the first lady’s chief of staff and deputy director of scheduling for the first lady.
Ryan has significant experience in the private sector and media. She helped launch and lead Axios, where she served as executive vice president overseeing external affairs and as an executive producer for Axios on HBO.
Ryan was a founding board member of PeacePlayers International and she currently serves on the boards of directors of the Partnership for Public Service and the Tory Burch Foundation. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a champion of Journey to Lead, a network supporting women in business. She is a recipient of the Johns Hopkins Alumni Association Public Service Award. She holds a B.A. in political science from Boston College and an MIPP from Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies.