Ryan Downs portrait
President, Unison

Ryan is currently President of Unison, a San Francisco-based fintech company. Unison enables homeowners to access the equity in their homes without incurring debt or making monthly payments. In exchange for providing liquidity to the homeowner, Unison shares in the appreciation of the home over time. Ryan oversees all the company’s operations, and manages its relationships with thousands of homeowners around the country.

From 2010 until 2020, Ryan served as President and CEO of Proxibid, an online marketplace for buying and selling highly valued items, including fine art, antiques and collectibles, automobiles, construction equipment, farm equipment, trucks, commercial and industrial equipment, and real estate. Proxibid’s 4000 sellers and two million buyers engaged in approximately $6B in sales volume annually, primarily through an auction format. In February 2020, Ryan led the company through a successful acquisition by a private equity group in the United Kingdom.

From 2001 to 2009, Ryan served as one of the top executives at PayPal, a leading online payment service. As Senior Vice President of Worldwide Operations, Ryan was responsible for approximately 5700 FTEs engaged in numerous functions, including consumer service, merchant service, sales, compliance, and risk operations. In addition to his PayPal responsibilities, Ryan also managed eBay Global Customer Support, which included an additional 6000 FTEs, from 2007 to 2008.

From 2000 to 2001, Ryan served as Chief Executive Officer for eTopia Technologies, Inc., an Omaha-based web development and IT consulting firm. Before that, he was a partner at the law firm of Bartlit Beck Herman Palenchar & Scott in Denver, Colorado, where he specialized in complex commercial litigation.

Ryan currently serves on the Board of Directors for Assurity Life Insurance Company in Lincoln, Nebraska. He also serves on several nonprofit boards, including Bellevue University, NorthStar, King of Kings Lutheran Church, and the Corporate Advisory Board for the Jeffrey S. Raikes School of Computer Science and Management at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Ryan earned a B.S. in Agricultural Sciences in 1991 from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and a J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1994. He was born and raised on his family’s farm outside Hershey, Nebraska, and currently resides in Springfield, Nebraska with his wife, Valerie, and their three children, Emily, Lauren, and Carson.