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Councilor Dan Ryan brings the necessary leadership and bridge-building skills required to move our city forward. He is a passionate and results-driven leader built for tackling complex issues.
A call to serve
Elected to Portland City Council in 2020 to fill the late Commissioner Nick Fish's seat, Dan Ryan is both honored and deeply humbled to serve his hometown of Portland. Councilor Ryan is the third openly queer member of Portland City Council and the first openly HIV-positive Portland City Commissioner.
In 2020, Councilor Ryan was assigned oversight of the Joint Office of Homeless Services, the Bureau of Development Services, the Portland Housing Bureau, and the Portland Children's Levy. Councilor Ryan led the City's Safe Rest Villages initiative—now part of the City's Alternative Shelters program—which serves as the regional model for outdoor shelter in the Pacific Northwest and a lynchpin in Portland's homeless services.
In the commission form of government between 2020-2024, Councilor Ryan served as the Commissioner of Culture & Livability, overseeing the Office of Community and Civic Life, the Office of Equity and Human Rights, Portland Parks & Recreation, and the Portland Children's Levy. In addition, Councilor Ryan served as the City of Portland's Arts Liaison.
In early 2021, Councilor Ryan pushed his colleagues on Portland City Council to identify and commit to acting on shared priorities—this led to Council elevating three priorities to guide the City's budget and policy decisions: compassionately address homelessness, develop a trustworthy new model for community safety, and stimulate economic recovery. Councilor Ryan's policy agenda still focuses on these priorities. Councilor Ryan invests in what makes Portland, Portland.
In 2024, Councilor Ryan led the merging of the Culture & Livability bureaus—Parks & Recreation, Portland Children's Levy, and the Office of Arts and Culture—into one service area: Vibrant Communities. Councilor Ryan served as the City of Portland's Vibrant Communities Commissioner through July 2024 and worked with his colleagues on City Council to prepare for, and endeavor, the historic government transition in January 2025.
In 2025, he served as the Co-Chair of the Arts & Economy Committee, the Vice-Chair of the Governance Committee, and a member of the Climate, Resilience & Land Use Committee and the Housing & Homelessness Committee. City Council adopted a new committee structure in February 2026, and Councilor Ryan currently serves as Vice Chair of the Committee of the Whole and a member of the City Life Committee.
As the only current City Councilor to have served on the City of Portland in its previous and current forms of government, September 2026 will mark his sixth year as a City Councilor.
A life of leadership
From 2005 to 2008, Councilor Ryan served as an elected member of the Portland Public School Board. In 2018, he was named the Portland Light of Fire Executive Director of the Year and received recognition as one of Portland Monthly Magazine's 50 Most Influential Portlanders in 2011. He is an alumnus of the American Leadership Forum in Oregon (ALF Class of XXVIII) and formerly served on the board of Trillium Family Services.
Councilor Ryan is likely best known around town as the former the CEO of All Hands Raised (formerly Portland Schools Foundation). He led the organization from 2008 to 2019—championing collective impact and guiding six school districts in Multnomah County toward measurable and meaningful results—and ultimately improving outcomes for children and youth from cradle to career.
Approaching work with a customer service lens
Customer service
Councilor Ryan is passionate about applying customer service principles to City government: Portlanders deserve responsiveness, accountability, efficiency, transparency, and dedication from their City government. As such, he advances policies that improve operations while reimagining City culture. Councilor Ryan built Portland Permitting & Development's processes on a customer service foundation, developed constituent relations protocols, expanded constituent relations philosophies, requested the first-ever accounting of all service area spending on unsheltered homelessness to create a financial baseline for that crisis, passed the first-ever citywide outgoing grants administration policy, and much more. Councilor Ryan centers a "taxpayer as customer" mentality while advancing data-driven governance with proven outcomes.
Outside of City Hall
Councilor Ryan is the youngest of eight and a proud Portlander and Oregonian.
When time permits, he enjoys attending local visual and performing arts events, as well as rooting for all of Portland's home teams (plus the Oregon Ducks). Councilor Ryan likes to cook and garden with his spouse, Amo. He likes playing outdoors with his 16 nieces and nephews and their families, and his favorite title is "Uncle Danny".
Councilor Ryan holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Oregon and completed graduate-level work at New School University's Graduate School of Management & Urban Policy.