10 minutes with... Valeria Ryan

Valeria Ryan steps in as Manchester Business Association’s new Events Manager 

STORY BY BENJAMIN LERNER

With a dynamic blend of enticing shops, world-class restaurants, welcoming hotels, and cultural destinations, Manchester has built a reputation as a town where businesses thrive. Working together, the owners of local businesses have created an unforgettable, unique experience for visitors and locals alike. That collective spirit has become a powerful and enduring source of vitality for Manchester’s business community—one that the Manchester Business Association has nurtured since its founding in 2017. Over the past several years, MBA Executive Director John Burnham has steadily built Manchester’s brand and digital reach. The MBA has also provided networking opportunities and crucial support services for local businesses. In July 2025, the MBA doubled down on its commitment to the Manchester business community by bringing Valeria Ryan onto their team in an exciting new position: Events Manager. And Ryan is already moving things forward in beautiful ways. 

By orchestrating and overseeing a series of events featuring MBA member businesses, including signature festivals, town gatherings, business forums, and networking mixers, Ryan aims to supercharge the impact of the MBA’s work. By capitalizing on existing trends in the retail, tourism, and hospitality industries, she will seek to bring more visitors and economic growth opportunities to Manchester. Ryan brings a rare blend of insight, business acumen, and intuitive promotional finesse to her new position. She honed these qualities throughout her years in the corporate and nonprofit sectors, as well as her time at Stratton Mountain Resort and Manchester’s Kimpton Taconic Hotel. 

With strong local ties, knowledge, and purpose, Ryan’s mission is clear: Convert the powerful spirit of cooperation that is rooted in Manchester’s business community into measurable economic momentum. Her appointment signals the start of an expansive new chapter for the MBA – one that promises to spotlight and celebrate the unique experiences available in Manchester. By filling hotels, shops, and restaurants during the fall and spring “shoulder seasons” and providing member businesses with more ways to expand their clientele bases, Ryan will offer promising new opportunities and pathways for growth for Manchester’s merchants, restaurants, hotels, and cultural venues. 

A Vision with Heart

Ryan’s early priorities as Events Manager blend fresh ideas with classic traditions, each of which is designed to feel authentically “Manchester” and to invite the whole town in. She is deeply aware that events can lead to both community betterment and economic impact. Her approach reflects that, and her focus is centered around creating experiences that attract both visitors and locals.

One of Ryan’s first goals is to lay the groundwork for new, marquee events with broader regional pull. She believes that these are the kind of experiences and events that will solidify Manchester’s position as a welcoming destination. “Looking towards 2026, we’re exploring the logistics of a Food and Wine Festival,” says Ryan. “The culinary talent here is brilliant—a great mix of talented chefs that specialize in all forms of innovative and classic cuisine. We’ve also got amazing wine merchants. I want to celebrate that in a way that invites both businesses and visitors in.” It’s an idea that builds naturally on Manchester’s growing reputation for fine dining, artisanal food and beverage, and specialty shops, while also providing a large-scale draw that highlights the breadth of the town’s offerings.

One of Ryan’s core priorities is the revival of beloved traditions, some of which once played a major part in defining Manchester’s seasonal rhythms. “Manchester used to have a huge Fourth of July parade,” notes Ryan. “People loved it.” She adds that past events that served as community staples throughout different eras of Manchester’s history and lore, such as the Fourth of July parade, were often passion projects that faded when a single community champion stepped back. For Ryan, the task is not only to bring them back, but to ensure they’re designed to endure. Her approach is to modernize formats, build logistic infrastructure for consistent support, and make sure these beloved events are sustainably staffed so that they last well into the future.

Ryan also sees positive momentum in the outdoor recreation sector. “Southern Vermont is the perfect landscape for outdoor adventures and extreme sports in all seasons, which is low-impact and high-excitement,” she explains. In her first weeks on the job, she began reaching out to local organizations with an eye toward hosting competitions and multi-day experiences based in Manchester. Early conversations have already led to potential site visits and exploratory planning, with Ryan encouraged by how quickly potential partners are returning calls and scheduling meetings. To her, it’s a sign that Manchester’s outdoor assets hold vast potential.

But food and recreation are only part of her vision. Culture and hospitality round out the picture. Ryan hopes to revive art gallery walks, reintroduce a restaurant week that spotlights each eatery’s specialties, and bring in traveling outdoor exhibits, all of which create reasons for visitors to support local businesses. Ryan believes that these kinds of offerings will give Manchester an edge as a tourism destination, where every visitor, from families and solo travelers to food lovers and art enthusiasts, can find something new to discover. “People love to stay here for the weekend,” says Ryan. “It’s beautiful, the food is great, and the shopping is amazing.”

Whatever the format, inclusion and access are non-negotiable. “I want events that feel like they belong here,” says Ryan. “They should be high quality and highly accessible.” Ryan believes that Manchester’s blend of sophistication and small-town charm is one of its primary strengths, and she intends to make sure that the MBA’s events reflect that balance.

Ryan emphasizes that when it comes to event planning, every MBA member business should have a seat at the table. She sees the MBA’s member businesses as the natural starting point for every new idea. “The first people we’re talking to are our member businesses,” shares Ryan. “Many of them believed in the MBAs vision in its early years, and helped to build the foundation. Now that I’m on board with the MBA as a dedicated Event Manager and John and I are aligned in our visions, it’s ‘Go time!’” For Ryan, the success of any event depends on open collaboration, where businesses can offer input, lend their creativity, and find ways to tie their work into the greater Manchester experience. She adds: “There’s never been a better time for new member businesses to sign up and get involved with the MBA. The more members at the table, the stronger the events, and the greater the economic impact.”

Her vision is certainly ambitious, but it is also deeply grounded in Manchester’s identity: a town where natural beauty and cultural vibrancy meet in perfect harmony. Her task is to create events that embody those qualities, while also ensuring that whether a person is a lifelong resident or a first-time visitor, they leave with a sense that Manchester is more than just a place to visit—it’s a place to be a part of.

Past and Present

Ryan’s background reads like a consummate blueprint for community-minded event planning, with every chapter of her career adding another skill, perspective, and layer of knowledge that she now brings to her role with the MBA. Her professional trajectory began in the corporate world, where she began working for Ryan Beck & Co after graduating from Florida State University. Soon after, she transitioned into a position with CDM, a global events and sponsorship company. While there, she managed high-stakes finance congresses, which took her across continents, collaborating with international teams, clients, and vendors. “No two events were similar—there was always something slightly different,” says Ryan. The pace was unrelenting, but it forged her ability to manage details under pressure, navigate cultural nuances, and think creatively about sales and customer service. That early immersion in the logistics of large-scale events gave her the confidence and adaptability that remain a central tenet of her strategy today.

After returning to Florida, Ryan shifted her career focus toward the nonprofit sector. She worked closely with respected civic leader David Lawrence Jr., former editor of The Miami Herald, on advocacy and outreach for The Children’s Trust, an initiative that secured permanent state funding for early childhood development and after-school programs. “It was intense and inspiring,” Ryan recalls, noting that it gave her a first-hand view of coalition building and how public policy intersects with community needs. She later joined Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden as Events Manager, where she organized fundraising events, coordinated programming, and spearheaded community outreach initiatives with local schools. “There’s always a way to build a successful organization if you’re creative,” shares Ryan, reflecting on the inventive trades, partnerships, and negotiations that kept budgets lean while still delivering quality experiences.

That professional intensity eventually gave way to a new professional chapter for Ryan, where she spent more than a decade as a licensed massage therapist, building her own private practice in Miami. For eleven years, she worked one-on-one with clients, developing a different set of skills rooted in empathy, patience, and the art of listening. “It was about creating trust and meaningful connections,” Ryan reflects. “That personal aspect is something I’ve carried into every role in my career since.”

When she relocated to Vermont in 2018, Ryan returned to hospitality, bringing her accumulated expertise to Stratton Mountain Resort. She quickly made her mark as a Senior Events Coordinator, executing everything from weddings to large-scale corporate events, each requiring massive amounts of meticulously-planned oversight and personalization. “My last season at Stratton, I executed 48 events,” says Ryan. The work demanded long hours and fastidious attention to detail. It also allowed her to channel her sales background towards creating expansive, lavish, and unforgettable experiences for her clients.

She continued this trajectory at the Kimpton Taconic in Manchester, where she balanced planning corporate functions and weddings. In the process, she built strong community partnerships with local vendors and colleagues—including MBA Executive Director John Burnham. At Taconic, Ryan also deepened her understanding of how Manchester’s hospitality and business sectors intersected. Ryan then stepped away from Taconic, devoting several years to supporting her husband, Timothy Ryan, in launching Pathways to Prevention, a nonprofit organization dedicated to substance misuse prevention education in schools. She built the operational foundation, managing payroll and administration while Timothy focused on curriculum and outreach. “The first two years of any business, you’re flying the plane while you’re building it,” notes Ryan. That experience not only reinforced her ability to build systems from scratch, but also gave her insight into the realities faced by nonprofits and mission-driven enterprises.

All of these experiences, from international finance to nonprofits, private practice to hospitality, and grassroots operations to entrepreneurial startups, now converge in her current work with the MBA. Each phase of her career taught her something about people, partnerships, and the delicate balance between vision and execution.

Still, the connection that Ryan feels to Manchester runs much deeper than her professional resumé. When she settled in Southern Vermont in 2017, Manchester felt instantly familiar. “I grew up in a small town in Connecticut,” shares Ryan. “When I moved from Florida to Vermont, it felt like I was home. People take care of each other here. They say hello to each other and there’s a real feeling of connection when you walk through town.” That sense of belonging, paired with her wide-ranging background, informs her approach at the MBA: events that are grounded in Manchester’s existing brand and identity, yet ambitious enough to draw in new audiences. 

Why the MBA Is the Right Platform

For Ryan, the MBA’s value manifests through the depth of its reach and its relationships. “There isn’t another organization here doing what the MBA does for local business,” says Ryan. “We boost exposure across our website, social channels, newsletters, and in the Manchester Visitor Center. If one business does well, everyone does well.” MBA Membership, in her view, is a two-way engine, which will be powerfully fueled by the MBA’s evolving event strategy. “Our collaborative effort to drive visitation and generate revenue depends on a strong, diverse membership,” shares Ryan. “We want everyone in the ecosystem—from retail and restaurants to services, lodging, arts, and outdoor recreation. When we work together symbiotically, we won’t just have great events–we’ll have a stronger business community where each business can be showcased to the clientele base that can support them directly. That, in turn, supports and uplifts the entire community.” 

If any business wonders whether they have the resources or time necessary to participate in MBA’s new event planning ventures, Ryan’s answer is both pragmatic and warm. “There’s always a way,” says Ryan. “If you’re hesitant, reach out. We understand the current economic climate, and we’ll put options on the table so you can be part of it and reap the benefits.” In practice, that will mean that the MBA continues to meet businesses where they are, offer visibility across its platforms, and build events that turn individual strengths into shared success. In looking towards the future, Valeria Ryan touts the hard work, persistence, and commitment of John Burnham: “John has been a visionary in building this organization, and I’m grateful to be working with him on building these events and bigger ideas today. The whole community has wholeheartedly invested in the MBA’s future vision every step of the way. And now, we’re activating it with these events. The conversations are already happening, and I’m excited to see what’s next as we celebrate and elevate our shops, restaurants, galleries, businesses, and outdoor resources together.”