Ryan (born February 21, 1946) is an American lawyer and politician who served two four-year terms as Illinois Attorney General.
A career Republican, he received his party's nomination and ran unsuccessfully for Governor of Illinois against Rod Blagojevich in 2002.
He has been a professor at Benedictine University since 2003.
He again ran for governor in 2010 and led incumbent Governor Pat Quinn in aggregate polling; but he failed to gain his party's nomination, coming in fourth in a field of seven candidates.
As of 2019, he is the last Republican to have been Illinois Attorney General.