Aidan Ryan

As senior vice president, crisis and issues management, Aidan Ryan counsels executives and corporate boards on mission-critical issues affecting their brand, bottom line and license to operate. His expertise includes crisis management, litigation and legal communications, labor and employee relations, geopolitics and social issues engagement.  

Aidan is a leader on WE’s global Corporate Reputation & Brand Purpose team. He focuses on helping clients prepare for, manage and recover from reputational crises. Within the turbulent world of crisis management, Aidan has particular expertise in managing high-profile government investigations, bet-the-company litigation, business and shareholder disputes, labor relations, environmental crises, data breaches, corporate espionage, geopolitical risks and issues at the intersection of political and social currents. His experience extends to other significant events in the life of any organization, including leadership transitions, private funding rounds and IPOs, congressional hearings, layoffs and rebranding. 

Prior to joining WE, Aidan was a senior vice president at Edelman, where he held roles including head of U.S. litigation and legal affairs and head of the New York City crisis and risk team. He counseled clients ranging from Fortune 5s to startups, including CVS Health, Starbucks, IBM, Allianz, Binance, Perdue Farms, Sysco, lululemon, David Yurman and Unilever, along with the trustees of multiple nonprofits, museums and elite universities. 

Aidan regularly provides expert commentary to media outlets on crisis management, corporate reputation and the business of law and communications. He earned his Accreditation in Public Relations (APR) from the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) in 2019, and he has been ranked among Lawdragon’s Global 100 Leaders in Strategy & Consulting since 2022. 

In addition to Aidan’s work in the corporate world, he is active in the arts as a nonprofit board member, publisher, curator and writer. He is a co-founder of Foundlings Press, an independent literary publisher with a focus on poetry; curator of a residency for poets and writers at Artpark, a state park and performance venue in Lewiston, New York, and a frequent cultural critic for popular and literary magazines. His first book, a blend of memoir and art history, will be published by the University of Iowa Press in 2025.