Ryan Perry

Ryan Perry was a year into his role at the Druid City Hospital in Alabama when the chief information officer accepted a job at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida. Shaking his hand as he left, Ryan told him that if he needed him there in Florida, he would gladly go. Even so, he never would’ve predicted that he’d get the call for a position at All Children’s Hospital only three months later, or that he would continue to work there for most of the next 23 years. 

In his current role as director of operations, Ryan manages the foundation’s finances, technology, and project and strategy planning. 

What does your job involve that others might not realize?
Our goal in operations is to give staff the tools and resources they need to perform their roles as effectively as possible. To that end, we work across multiple areas of the Johns Hopkins organization. 

An example of this is our work on the Johns Hopkins Advancement System (JHAS), DAR’s new customer relationship management system: I am currently helping convert all four partner hospitals over to the new system. When we think of the move to JHAS, we may envision one big data conversion, but in reality, there are five data conversions happening — the ALADIN database and each partner hospital’s Raiser’s Edge database. It’s a large effort, and I’m happy to assist. 

What do you like most about your job?
Being helpful and supporting others is one of the most fulfilling parts of my role. Whether it’s answering questions, preparing reports, or acting as a thought partner, I couldn’t imagine doing anything else. I am very fortunate to work with a group of individuals who appreciates and recognizes the support our operations department delivers. 

What do you like to do when you are not working?
One of my family’s favorite activities is camping — not tent camping, but travel trailer camping. (Some might call it ‘glamping.’) As a teenager, I did enough 120-mile backpacking adventures — cold, wet, and eating freeze-dried food — through the Colorado Rockies with my father to last me a lifetime. I took a mental note that I wouldn’t do that with my kids when I became a father. Instead, we do camping in style.