Confessions of a CEO: Ned Ryun as Salmon Pitcher, Son of an Olympian & Father of Four

Story by Emily Baer and Tiffany Aziz:

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Ned Ryun, founder and CEO of American Majority, can attest to the fact that you may not succeed on your first try. On his first day pitching salmon in Kasilof, Alaska at age 20, Ned learned how to complete his new daunting task through trial and error. As he threw a large king salmon, the teeth of the fish caught his forearm and he toppled face-first into the sand while trying to throw the large fish into its bin.

“Suffice it to say, the fisherman watching found it highly humorous,” Ned said. “To be fair, that bin was well above my head and king salmon can be very large. I actually got pretty good at it by the end of the summer.” Ned spent the summers of 1993 and 1994 pitching salmon in Alaska and has since applied the lessons of trial and error, hard work and the determination to see a job through to the end, to his life work since then.

While his summers may have been spent in Alaska, Ned grew up in Kansas and his interest in politics began at a young age. He considers himself privileged to have a lifelong role model: his father, Jim Ryun. Jim Ryun is a three-time Olympian who was the first high school athlete to run a mile in under four minutes and he won a silver medal in the 1968 Olympics. In addition to his athletic achievements as an Olympic runner, Jim Ryun was a congressman, a talented, prize-winning photographer, a loving father, and a humble, principled man. “It’s a great heritage and a great last name,” said Ned. “I am extremely proud of who he is and what he has done.”

Ned followed his father’s footsteps when he ran track for the University of Kansas, but his real passion was politics. His involvement in politics includes working as a presidential writer during the Bush Administration, heading up a youth grassroots organization, founding American Majority — personally training thousands of conservatives over the past eight years — and heading up Voter Gravity, a conservative database technology startup.

For Ned, balancing his role as American Majority CEO (and CEO of Voter Gravity) and a husband to Becca and father of four children is a daily challenge. Although he loves his work, his priority is his family. His children, Nathaniel (10), James (8), Charlotte (7), and Hudson (5), are often seen around the office, hanging with their dad after school or waiting for football practice.

“This is what I’m doing now,” Ned said. “Who knows if this is what I’ll be doing five years from now or ten years from now. But I know I will be their dad for 40, 50, hopefully 60 years. I’m always going to be their dad and they are always going to be my kids. At the end of the day what’s the most important thing? It’s not this, it’s them.”

 

Quick Facts About Ned:

• What is something you have always wanted to do? To travel the world with my wife and kids.
• What is the last song you listened to? Sia’s Cheap Thrills
• Best compliment you have ever received? You’re relentless (I wish I was more so, actually)
• If you could have witnessed anything that happened in the past, what would it be? The Resurrection
• Longest you have gone without sleeping? 52 hours.
• 3 things in nature you find most beautiful? The smell of pine trees in the mountains, crisp autumn mornings, and massive thunderstorms in the summer.
• Are you a coffee or soda person? Coffee, hands down.
• Favorite sports team? KU Jayhawks
• If you were stuck on a desert island with one person, who would that be? My wife.
• What one item can’t you live without? Sadly, my iPhone.
• Favorite movie? Not fair. Three favs: Breaker Morant, Chariots of Fire, Glory.
• Favorite holiday tradition? Thanksgiving Turkey bowl with the large extended family. My father in-law puts together uniforms and each year he will get a different design, with a different logo. It’s hilarious, we have a great time.