Ryan Brook ’19 joins the Hunt Institute as an Associate, bringing his experience in project management and the ability to overcome various challenges through innovative solutions.
Ryan Brook graduated in May of 2019 from SMU with a major in EMIS and a minor in Business Administration & Mathematics. Ryan is originally from Denver, Colorado. He was also an SMU Discovery Scholarship & Founders Scholarship recipient.
While at SMU, Ryan worked as an Undergraduate Project Manager in the Hunt Institute where he applied his knowledge from both the Lyle School of Engineering and Cox Business School to assist student researchers with their projects. In addition to contributing as a project manager, he mentored younger students in project management training and helped to shape a project management handbook for the Institute. His goal was to help projects define the scope, timeline, and budget so undergraduates would be better equipped to execute their projects successfully. While he is not a technical engineer, Ryan believes that he can contribute to the Hunt Institute mission by assisting others with their projects.
After leaving SMU and the Hunt Institute, Ryan continued his work in Project Management with Hunt Consolidated, Inc. in Dallas. Ryan was recruited into Hunt to help rebuild their internal office of Project Management and was able to apply his skills and lessons learned from his time with the Institute doing the same. Over the past two years, Ryan has worked in many different areas within IT as a Business Analyst, Technical Project Manager, and Pseudo Developer, helping the business identify weaknesses and needs while providing roadmaps and application solutions. Hunt was faced with many unforeseen difficulties over the past two years, and Ryan was able to help the business stay nimble and adapt to the ever-changing landscape. Having overcome various challenges, Ryan has now resumed work as a Project Manager, implementing enterprise-wide SAAS solutions and continuing his growth in the specialization of IT Project Delivery.
In addition to school and his work with the Hunt Institute, Ryan was a member of Lyle Ambassadors, a group of students that assist with recruitment and retention. Ryan has a passion for helping other people succeed, especially in the areas that he has struggled through before. He continues this work by taking his skills into the professional workspace as an IT Business Analyst & Project Manager at Hunt Consolidated.
After working as a professional in the industry, we asked Ryan Brook what he felt about impact work. He said, “Impact work is important to me because for me, it is a choice, and I hope that one day it can be a choice for everyone. The beauty of life is in what we choose to do with what we are given, and helping people…is what I choose to do.”
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