Ryan Loya was rated by Command as an "Exceptionally Qualified" Marine for outstanding leadership and performance. He served ten years in the Marine Corps, deploying four times, two of which were to Afghanistan. On his third deployment, Ryan was awarded the Purple Heart. Upon transitioning to the civilian sector, Ryan lobbied with his fiance to reform the Department of Defense (DoD) Transition Assistance Program (TAP). Together, they wrote and introduced (April 18, 2018), the "Warrior Transition Assistance Reform Act of 2018," sponsored by Congressman Don Bacon (R-NE-02). Key mandates from the Act are now law in NDAA 2019, including the requirement that DoD TAP be completed 365 days prior to the End of Active Service and that program impact be measured, consolidated, and delivered to Congress annually (UniteOurTroops.com). While attending New York University, Ryan worked for global advertising firm FCB Health and helped launch REBOOT, the first network-wide Veteran hiring initiative for Interpublic Group (IPG). In late 2018, Ryan started his entrepreneurial journey as the fractional executive and consultant for Columbia University's clean tech accelerator and Co-Founder and President of Meritorious (Meritorious.us), an exclusive network for Veteran and military spouse executives. Ryan became the Director of Sales at GuardSight in 2020 and continues to serve in this role after the company's acquisition to Iron Bow Technologies in January 2023.
