Ryan Sullivan

he/him
Interim CEO,
Detroit Riverfront Conservancy
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Ryan Sullivan serves as interim CEO at the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy. The Conservancy is a non-profit organization founded in 2003 with a bridge-to-bridge vision of transforming and revitalizing 5.5 miles of riverfront in downtown Detroit from the Ambassador Bridge on the west, to the MacArthur Bridge to Belle Isle on the east

Sullivan is also the CEO and Founder of Watershed Horizons, a company that he founded to pursue opportunities in energy, infrastructure and natural resources along the Great Lakes watershed.

Before joining the Conservancy in May of 2024, Sullivan was recruited out of Michigan State University in 2006 to do investment banking in New York City.

Sullivan joined Rock Ventures LLC in 2010, helping to build Dan Gilbert’s gambling operations in Ohio. In 2016, Gilbert made him CEO of Xenith LLC, a growth-phase football helmet maker within the Rock portfolio of companies.

Sullivan is passionate about economics and helping businesses grow, He is also interested in helping foster communities and helping people grow and develop. He lives in the Indian Village neighborhood of Detroit with his wife and four children.

Breakout panelist