Mary A. Ryan

Mary A. Ryan (1940–2006) was a retired United States career diplomat who served as United States Ambassador to Swaziland from 1988 to 1990 and as Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs from 1993 to 2002.

Mary A. Ryan was born in New York City on October 1, 1940. She was educated at St. John's University, receiving a B.A. in 1963 and an M.A. in 1965.

Ryan joined the United States Foreign Service in 1966. She was first assigned as a consular and administrative officer in Naples, 1966 - 1969. She was assigned as personnel officer at the American Embassy in Tegucigalpa, 1970–1971, and subsequently served as a consular officer at the American consulate general in Monterrey.

In 1973 she was assigned as administrative officer in the Bureau of African Affairs in Washington, D.C. from 1973 to 1975, and as a post management officer in the Bureau of African Affairs, 1975 - 1977. From 1977 to 1980, she was a career development officer in the Bureau of Personnel.

In 1980, Ryan received French language training, followed by assignments as administrative counselor in Abidjan, 1980–1981, and Khartoum, 1981 - 1982. From 1982 to 1983, she served as an inspector in the Office of the Inspector General in the Department of State, and Executive Director of the Bureau of European and Canadian Affairs, 1983 - 1985. In 1985, she became the Executive Assistant to the Under Secretary of State for Management, Ronald I. Spiers.

On April 21, 1988, President of the United States Ronald Reagan nominated Ryan as United States Ambassador to Swaziland; she subsequently presented her credentials on August 25, 1988 and left her post on January 24, 1990.

Returning to Washington, D.C. in 1990, Ambassador Ryan served as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of Consular Affairs. Assigned as Director of the Kuwait Task Force following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, she served in this capacity until her assignment to the United Nations Special Commission on the Elimination of Iraqi Weapons of Mass Destruction as the Commission's first Director of Operations. She returned from New York to take up her duties as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Canadian Affairs.

In 1993, President Bill Clinton nominated Ryan as Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs and she held this office from May 12, 1993 until September 30, 2002, overseeing the creation of the Office of Children's Issues in 1994.

She died on April 25, 2006 of myelofibrosis.