Ryan Gallagher, PE

Ryan leads a team of operational and environmental experts consisting of more than 1,000 employees who support Purdue University. He oversees the essential services that keep the campuses operating reliably, efficiently and safely each day, including building maintenance, custodial operations, grounds and street maintenance, utility generation and distribution, occupational safety, research and laboratory safety, regulatory compliance management, and sustainable operations.

As a career operations leader, Ryan focuses on building high-performing teams and strengthening the systems that support complex enterprise environments. Since starting at Purdue in 2017, his accomplishments include developing key performance indicators for all major aspects of campus operations, driving successful results for those key performance indicators, operationalizing more than five million gross square footage of new campus space, improving utility service costs and reliability through strategies such as implementing a public-private partnership, and reducing recordable injury rates by more than 40% and injury-related costs by 30%.

Ryan is known for a leadership style grounded in business-minded and results-focused accountability, customer service and trust in frontline expertise. He believes a strong operations team creates the conditions for students, faculty, staff and researchers to do their best work by ensuring the infrastructure, systems and safety practices supporting the campus community remain dependable and resilient.

Previously, Ryan spent 20 years at the Indiana Department of Transportation as an engineer and an operations manager, culminating in the executive office and leading an organization of more than 2,500 employees to operational excellence.

Outside of work, Ryan enjoys spending time with his wife, Jennifer, and five adult children.

Ryan powers Purdue by ensuring resources are available for facilities and environmental health and safety staff—then gets out of their way and lets them do what they do best.

Ryan may be reached at ryan@purdue.edu.