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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Long before he became president of King&#8217;s College, Rev. John Ryan, C.S.C., knew he wanted to be a priest.</p><p>The Wilkes-Barre native just took a roundabout way to get there, getting an accounting degree from Wilkes after graduating from Coughlin High School.</p><p>Ryan then worked for more than a decade as an accountant, leaving the area after college in 1971.</p><p>&#8220;I worked 13 years for an engineering consulting firm, got to travel quite a bit,&#8221; he said.</p><p>&#8220;I had a great opportunity. I had a lot of different positions there, and I was able to do my MBA at nights.&#8221;</p><p>Ryan received his MBA from St. Joseph&#8217;s University in Philadelphia.</p><p>Ryan said he reached a point, when he was 34 years old, that he decided to enter the seminary.</p><p>&#8220;I said &#8216;Boy, you know the clock&#8217;s ticking here,&#8217;&#8221; Ryan said. &#8220;If I&#8217;m going to do this, now is the time to do it.&#8221;</p><p>Ryan is a member of the Holy Cross Congregation, and he said they had a cutoff age of 35 to enter the seminary.</p><p>&#8220;So I sold the house, quit the job, put a little suitcase together and went out to the Seminary University of Notre Dame, thinking, &#8216;This is the craziest thing I&#8217;ve ever done.&#8217;&#8221;</p><p>Ryan said he didn&#8217;t even unpack at first.</p><p>&#8220;(I was) thinking I would get it out of my system,&#8221; he said. &#8220;But I really loved it. I had a great experience there.&#8221;</p><p>During his time there, Ryan said he was able to teach an undergraduate finance class, which gave him &#8220;an appetite&#8221; for higher education.</p><p>&#8220;I really loved being in the classroom,&#8221; he said.</p><p>Through his studies, Ryan said he traveled to the University of Toronto to complete his theology work from Notre Dame.</p><p>While there, Ryan&#8217;s provincial from the seminary called him about the then-new business school opening at King&#8217;s, and wanted Ryan to be stationed there.</p><p>&#8220;After 23 years, I had the possibility of coming back home,&#8221; Ryan said.</p><p>Ryan was ordained as a priest in 1990. Before coming back to the area to teach, he said he needed to get his doctorate degree, and continued his studies at Temple University in Philadelphia.</p><p>While there, Ryan lived in a parish for four years, getting his Ph.D. in Business.</p><p>He came back to the area in 1994 and starting teaching at King&#8217;s.</p><p>&#8220;I taught in the business school for 10 years. I was then the dean of the business school for seven years, and this is my seventh year as president of the college,&#8221; he said.</p><p>&#8220;In many ways, my life came back full circle.&#8221;</p><p>Ryan said he is happy to be back in the area, and that he loves it in the Wyoming Valley and is proud of the diverse student-body at all the area schools, believing it speaks to the value of Northeastern Pennsylvania.</p><p>&#8220;The vast majority of our students come from different parts of the state, country and world to this region to live and to study,&#8221; he said. &#8220;They make a choice to come to this region, and I don&#8217;t think that&#8217;s fully appreciated.&#8221;</p><p>Ryan called himself a &#8220;cheerleader&#8221; for the area and said as president of King&#8217;s he is able to travel and see how well-represented the area colleges are across the country.</p><p>&#8220;No matter what area (of study,) we have graduates in the very top of all of these fields,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Although we are relatively small, I think we have a bigger impact throughout the country.&#8221;</p><p>Ryan said he believes education is a lifelong investment and helping in the education of young people is something he cherishes.</p><p>&#8220;The combination of being a priest/educator is something I really cherish,&#8221; he said.</p><p>&#8220;I honestly say if I could do my life over again I would do the same thing.&#8221;</p><p>Even earning an undergraduate degree from King&#8217;s crosstown rival?</p><p>&#8220;(Wilkes President) Pat Leahy, my good friend, always says, &#8216;Even the president of King&#8217;s wanted to go to Wilkes,&#8217;&#8221; Ryan laughed.</p><p>&#8220;I think very highly of Wilkes.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Rev. John Ryan, president of King&#8217;s College, started his career as an accountant before becoming a priest. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/web1_TTLXXXXXXFatherRyan-2.jpg</photo0><caption0>Rev. John Ryan, president of King&#8217;s College, started his career as an accountant before becoming a priest. </caption0><photoCredit0>Sean McKeag | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/web1_TTLXXXXXXFatherRyanCMYK-2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Rev. John Ryan, president of King&#8217;s College, started his career as an accountant before becoming a priest. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/web1_TTLXXXXXXFatherRyanCMYK-2.jpg</photo1><caption1>Rev. John Ryan, president of King&#8217;s College, started his career as an accountant before becoming a priest. </caption1><photoCredit1>Sean McKeag | Times Leader </photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Brigid Edmunds</p><p>bedmunds@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p><strong>About this series: </strong>People in Your Neighborhood is an occasional feature that will profile local residents with an interesting story to tell. To suggest someone to be featured, contact staff writer Brigid Edmunds at 570-991-6113 or bedmunds@www.timesleader.com.</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Brigid Edmunds at 570-991-6113 or on Twitter @brigidedmunds</p></shirttailMeta></div>

People in Your Neighborhood: Priesthood was always calling for King’s president