Edward "Ted" Ryan, Candidate for Council

Professional Experience: Director, Heritage Communications, and has managed the historical collections of The Coca-Cola Company since June 1997. Oversee an extensive collection of physical and digital artifacts that showcase the rich history of The Coca-Cola Company. Served as Project Manager for the program to restore, digitize, and catalog over 25,000 historical ads created by The Coca-Cola Company over the past 50 years for donation to the U.S. Library of Congress. Integral member of the design team in developing the historical components of the World of Coca-Cola. Wrote a book celebrating 100 years of Coca-Cola in Latin America; regular contributor to Coca-Cola Journey, the Coca-Cola Conversations blog; engage consumers and customers via the Coca-Cola Archives Facebook and Twitter pages. Served as Company spokesperson for programs on CNN, Food Network, and Antiques Roadshow. Prior to joining The Coca-Cola Company, worked for ten years at Atlanta History Center curating the Atlanta Braves Museum at Turner Field, the Bobby Jones Golf Collection and creating the History Center’s first website. While at the History Center, won an Emmy as Associate Producer and Researcher for a documentary on minor league baseball in the South.

Education: BA, Emory University, 1987. MA incomplete (ABD), Georgia State University, 1993.

Professional Activities: Society of American Archivists: Member since 1997; Chair of Business Archives Section (2006–2007); Program Committee (2013–2014); Representative to Association of Information and Image Management (AIIM) (2010–2013). Association of Moving Image Archivists (AMIA): Chair, Digital Initiatives Group; presented papers on Corporate Archives and Digital Asset Management. Academy of Certified Archivists: Member. Journal of Digital Asset Management: Editorial Board. International Council on Archives: Bureau of the Section for Business and Labor Archives.

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Question posed by Nominating Committee: What are your priorities for advancing SAA’s Strategic Plan? How do we create an organization that nimbly embraces change, including changing member needs, yet is stable enough to advance the profession?

My priorities for advancing SAA’s Strategic Plan would be to work on ways to open communications between what appears to be an increasingly siloed profession and organization. SAA and the archives profession are at a critical crossroad but the Strategic Plan adopted in May 2013 offers a foundation that can be adapted to meet the needs of all of its members. While the four pillars of the plan—“Advocacy,” “Enhancing Professional Growth,” “Advancing the Field,” and “Meeting Members’ Needs”—all appear easy on the surface, pressures exist from within and outside the profession. Externally, many organizations are challenged because in the computer age, the very word “archives” has begun to loose some of its meaning as every IT staffer is now considered a professional. Within SAA, the various Sections and Roundtables are becoming increasing isolated. It is ironic that in this growing age of Social Media, we increasingly only speak to and within our own groups. As a member and former Chair of the Business Archives Section, we often felt like we were outside the main of the organization, but serving on several broader panels has convinced me that we share more common attributes that differences. My goal would be to work to make communications and exchanges of ideas more seamless within the organization and to assist in developing tools to advocate for the profession outside of SAA. My experience in communications at The Coca-Cola Company could be put to use helping put the SAA’s Strategic Plan into action.