Michael J. (Mike) Ryan
Great Plains Regional Director
Michael J. (Mike) Ryan, a 22-year Bureau of Reclamation employee, was named Great Plains Regional Director in June 2005. Since the summer of 1996, he had been serving as Northern California Area Manager at Shasta Lake, California. In that capacity Ryan managed nine dams, which stored and delivered water for irrigation and municipal use, and six associated powerplants. He also served as Chairman of the Trinity Management Council, tasked with developing and implementing the Trinity River Restoration Program and advising the Secretary of the Interior on Trinity River anadromous fishery restoration issues.
Between 1992 and 1996 Mike was manager of the Klamath Basin Area Office in Klamath Falls, Oregon. From December 1988 though 1992, he directed the operation and maintenance of a number of facilities of the Fryingpan-Arkansas and Colorado-Big Thompson projects and the Leadville Mine Drainage Tunnel Water Treatment Plant in Colorado.
Mike started his fulltime career in January 1985 in Billings, Montana, in what was then the headquarters for Reclamation's Upper Missouri Region. During his four years in Billings he worked in facility operation and maintenance, dam safety, and water conservation programs.
A native of Deer Lodge, Montana, Mike earned a Bachelor of Science degree in civil engineering from Montana State University-Bozeman, in 1984 and is a registered professional engineer. Mike and his wife, Shelly, have three children.