Barbara A. Ryan currently serves as Deputy to Martin J. Gruenberg, Vice Chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). Prior to her current post, Ms. Ryan served as Associate Director of Regional Operations in the FDIC's Division of Insurance and Research, where she led the division's risk analysis activities across all six FDIC regions.

Ms. Ryan joined the FDIC in early 2005 from Fannie Mae, where she served since early 2000 as Vice President of Industry Analysis and Vice President for Corporate Strategy. Before joining Fannie Mae, Ms. Ryan served for more than ten years as Vice President and as Senior Economist at Capital Economics (since renamed The CapAnalysis Group LLC), an affiliate of the Washington, D.C. law firm Howrey LLP, where she provided economic consulting services for clients on antitrust and regulatory matters, including litigation, mergers and acquisitions, and international trade issues.

From 1994 to 1996 she left and later rejoined Capital Economics to serve as Economic Advisor to the Chairman of the U.S. International Trade Commission. Her past positions also include Manager and Senior Consultant in Ernst & Young’s economic consulting practice, and Research Associate at Evans Economics, Inc., a macroeconomic forecasting firm. She began her professional career as an Assistant Cashier and Staff Economist at The National Bank of Washington in Washington, D.C. Ms. Ryan has also served as an adjunct professor, teaching economics at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia.

Ms. Ryan graduated from Georgetown University with a B.A. in Economics and English and later received an M.A. in Economics from The George Washington University and a Ph.D. in Economics from George Mason University.