Gerard "Gerry" Thomas Ryan (born ) is an Australian businessman, investor, racehorse owner and sports enthusiast. According to the ''

Financial Review ''The Australian Financial Review'' (abbreviated to the ''AFR'') is an Australian business-focused, compact daily newspaper covering the current business and economic affairs of Australia and the world. The newspaper is based in Sydney, New Sou ...

'' Rich List 2018 his

net worth Net worth is the value of all the non-financial and financial assets owned by an individual or institution minus the value of all its outstanding liabilities. Since financial assets minus outstanding liabilities equal net financial assets, net ...

was assessed at 487 million, as Australia's 176th richest person. He is the owner and founder of Jayco Australia, as well as owning wineries, resorts, the theatrical company

Global Creatures Global Creatures is a live entertainment company based in Sydney, Australia with offices in New York and London. It is privately owned by Gerry Ryan (businessman), Gerry Ryan and Carmen Pavlovic and is best known for Walking with Dinosaurs#The Are ...

, the Jayco Southside Flyers in the

Women's National Basketball League The Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) is the pre-eminent professional women's basketball league in Australia. It is currently composed of eight teams. The league was founded in 1981 and is the women's counterpart to the National Baske ...

, and is part-owner of online retailer BikeExchange and My Local Group. In 2011, with his son Andrew, he acquired Mitchelton Wines from

Lion Nathan Lion is an alcoholic beverage company that operates in Australia and New Zealand, and a subsidiary of Japanese beverage conglomerate Kirin. It produces and markets a range of beer and cider in Australia, and wine in New Zealand and the Unite ...

Sports

Ryan owned a partial interest in football club

Brisbane Roar FC Brisbane Roar Football Club is an Australian professional association football, soccer club based in Brisbane, Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland and has won the domestic title on three occasions, as well as holding the longest unbeaten record ...

, which he has since sold. Along with Bart Campbell, Matt Tripp and Michael Watt, he has been one of the co-owners of

NRL The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

team

Melbourne Storm The Melbourne Storm are a rugby league club based in Melbourne, Victoria in Australia that participates in the National Rugby League. The first fully professional rugby league team based in the state, the Storm entered the competition in 1998. ...

since 2013, being Club Director until 2010, and has also been a board member of

St Kilda Football Club The St Kilda Football Club, nicknamed the Saints, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Victoria. The club plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier league. The club ...

in the

AFL AFL may refer to: Sports * American Football League (AFL), a name shared by several separate and unrelated professional American football leagues: ** American Football League (1926) (a.k.a. "AFL I"), first rival of the National Football Leagu ...

. Ryan's interest in cycling began in 1992 when he invested in

Kathy Watt Kathryn ("Kathy") Ann Watt (born 11 September 1964) is an Australian racing cyclist who won two medals at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain (gold in the road race, and silver in the pursuit). She has won 24 national championships i ...

, paying for her to attend the Barcelona Olympics where she won two medals. He is now part owner and founder of Mitchelton–Scott men's professional cycling team, formerly known as the GreenEDGE Cycling team; and was President of

Cycling Australia Cycling Australia (CA), the trading name of the Australian Cycling Federation Inc, was the national governing body for bicycle racing in Australia, and represented the interests of affiliated cycling clubs and State federations. It covered the d ...

for 2013, stepping down in 2014. Ryan has been the primary sponsor of the Jayco Australian Opals since 2010, and the women's basketball team Dandenong Jayco Rangers since 1997. In 2013, he was awarded the Australian Olympic Committee's Order of Merit for contributions to sport. Ryan was half-owner of 2010

Melbourne Cup The Melbourne Cup is a Thoroughbred horse race held in Melbourne, Australia. It is a 3200-metre race for three-year-olds and over, conducted by the Victoria Racing Club on the Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne, Victoria as part of the Melbou ...

winner

Americain Americain (2005−2022) was an American-bred French trained thoroughbred racehorse. He won the 150th Melbourne Cup in 2010, ridden by Gérald Mossé, trained by Alain de Royer-Dupré and owned by Melbourne businessmen Gerry Ryan and Kevin & Coll ...

, and remains sole owner of 2012

Bendigo Cup The Bendigo Cup is a Bendigo Jockey Club Group races, Group 3 Thoroughbred horse race, held under handicap conditions over a distance of 2400 metres at the Bendigo Racecourse, Bendigo, Victoria, Australia on a Wednesday in late October or early No ...

winner Puissance de Lune.

Awards and honours

In 2000 Ryan was awarded the

Medal of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

for service to the community, particularly as a supporter of sporting and charitable organisations, and to youth. Ryan was one of five inaugural inductees to the Victorian Caravan Industry Hall of Fame in 2012, and was inducted into the Victorian Government's Manufacturing Hall of Fame in 2014 for his contributions to manufacturing excellence. Ryan was awarded the

Australian Olympic Committee Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Aus ...

Order of Merit in 2013 for remarkable merit in the sporting world, through his personal achievement and contribution to the development of sport. In 2015, he was an inaugural

Cycling Australia Hall of Fame Cycling Australia Hall of Fame was established in 2015. The focus of the Hall of Fame is on athletic performance but also acknowledge administrators, officials and coaches. A ‘Legends of the sport’ category will be introduced three years after ...

inductee.

Personal life

Ryan's three children are Andrew Ryan, Sarah DeBoer, and Michael Ryan. In 2014, the '' BRW'' Rich 200, the forerunner to the ''Financial Review'' Rich List, assessed Ryan's net worth at 340 million. Ryan did not meet the threshold to appear on the ''Financial Review'' 2019 Rich List.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ryan, Gerry Living people Businesspeople from Melbourne Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia Year of birth missing (living people)