Ryan has 25 years of experience in transportation and city planning, executing some of the most transformative transportation changes in the nation. He served in the administrations of New York City Mayors Michael Bloomberg and Bill de Blasio, leading the agency’s 500-person planning, engineering and operating divisions staff.

Russo worked on the innovative safety, pedestrian, cycling and transit projects including North America’s first on-street parking-protected bike lanes, pedestrianizing Broadway at Times Square and operationalizing the nation’s first Vision Zero action plans. Ryan oversaw the design and implementation of more than 600 miles of bike network enhancements including 70 miles of protected bicycle lanes and projects that reclaimed hundreds of acres of former road space for walking, transit and bike riding—taming some of the city’s most dangerous roads and yielding the fewest fatalities in more than 100 years of record-keeping in New York City.

In 2017 he became the first permanent director of OakDOT, making the city a national model for incorporating equity into transportation planning, policy and programs. OakDOT’s “Slow Streets” initiative to repurpose neighborhood streets during the COVID-19 spurred cities around the country to designate roadway streets as shared spaces. OakDOT has been recognized for its community partnerships and creation of values-driven, evidence-based systems for allocating limited resources.

Learn more about Ryan’s appointment as Executive Director.