Staff

Ryan Olson

Executive Director

Ryan took over as Executive Director in January 2012 after spending the last four years woking in Charleston, SC as the Assistant Director of Land Protection for the SC Chapter of The Nature Conservancy.  Ryan received his B.A. from The University of the South in Sewanee, TN and his J.D from the Charleston School of Law in Charleston, SC.  Throughout his educational and professional career, Ryan has worked in and on behalf of the environment and specifically focused his legal studies on environmental, property and land use law.  He credits his summer camp and Outward Bound experiences as the most transformational periods of his life and could not be more excited to now be focusing on providing the same experiential opportunities to other youth.  A believer that we all need more “Ah Ha” moments in our lives, Ryan sees Muddy Sneakers as a leader in the “nature deficit disorder/no child left inside” movement and feels the disconnect between the world’s youth and the natural world needs to be one of the primary focuses of the modern environmental movement.  An avid traveler and outdoor enthusiast, Ryan traveled extensively and spent time living in New Zealand and Colorado before returning to the southeast.  His other interests include music/film/literature, surfing, snowboarding, mountain biking, hiking, camping and traveling with his family in their VW bus, Lolo.  Ryan and his wife Maria, along with their two daughters Anderson and Clara, live in Pisgah Forest, NC.