L. Timothy Ryan

Lawrence Timothy Ryan (born January 16, 1958) is a Certified Master Chef and the current president of The Culinary Institute of America (CIA). Ryan graduated the CIA in 1977 and joined the school's faculty in 1982, and later moved to administration before heading the education division. He became the first CIA alumnus and faculty member to become president of the college in 2001, and is the college's fifth president. Prior to returning to the CIA as a faculty member, he spent five years as a chef in different aspects of the culinary industry. Ryan has received numerous accolades throughout his career from the American Culinary Federation, James Beard Foundation, and various other organizations.

Ryan was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on January 16, 1958. At age 13, he began washing dishes at a restaurant in Pittsburgh. By the time he went to high school, he had decided he wanted to be a chef and enrolled at The Culinary Institute of America. Following graduation, he worked as assistant chef at Ben Gross' Restaurant in Irwin, Pennsylvania and then as executive chef at La Normande in Pittsburgh. He also traveled to France to gain experience in several French restaurants. While in France, he was approached by the CIA to join the faculty, and returned to the school as a chef-instructor in 1982.

Later that year, he became part of the CIA's team that developed the school’s American Bounty Restaurant. He worked his way up through the ranks at the college serving a number of roles—department head for culinary education, director of culinary education, vice president of education, and executive vice president—before being named president.

In 2001, Ferdinand Metz, president of The Culinary Institute of America for more than 20 years, stepped down to become president emeritus of the college. After an extensive search to fill the vacancy, the college's board of trustees elected Tim Ryan from a group of finalists at its meeting in New York City on October 11, 2001. On November 1, 2001, Ryan began his tenure as the fifth president of The Culinary Institute of America. Following his appointment, Ryan said, "My mission is to take a great institution and make it even better. In doing so we will move in some new and quite exciting directions. It is sort of like being named the manager of the New York Yankees—that is a pretty good place to be. We want to preserve the continuity. But at the same time it is a new world and there are plenty of challenges. We are going to change to meet those challenges."

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