As one of the startups in the Ion Smart Cities Accelerator’s inaugural cohort, Ryan’s company, Umanity, is piloting their platform that connects the needs of the community to resources in real time for Districts, multiple Super Neighborhoods, the Complete Communities Initiative, and the Ion. Before founding Umanity, Ryan was a self-taught programmer for MIT, as well as a music teacher and band director here in Houston, TX. His formal software education began at The Ohio State University where simultaneously Ryan studied Computer Science & Engineering and worked for one of his professor’s data analytics startup as a front-end developer. After years of rapid-prototyping, community engagement, and full-stack experience, Ryan combined his education and experiences to start Umanity, Smart Philanthropy for Smart Cities. Since becoming a member of the Ion Smart Cities Accelerator's first cohort, Umanity has been featured on multiple episodes of “Dialogue Houston” and spoken on several Smart City & Resilience panels.