ABOUT
Ryan Jude Tanner Ryan dreams big. He always has, even when faced with overwhelming odds. He was born in Quincy, Illinois, the first son of an unwed 14-year old mother who was not ready to handle the responsibilities of her new baby or the others who would follow Ryan. No one would have been surprised if Ryan had remained in the projects. No one would have been surprised if he had settled for a day-to-day existence blurred by alcohol and drugs. No one would have been surprised if he had dropped out of school or fathered and then abandoned his own children. Ryan Tanner easily could have become the lead character in a too-familiar story set against a backdrop of heart-breaking statistics and low expectations. But to do that, he would have to stop dreaming. And, for Ryan, that was a deal breaker. Luckily, Ryan had a grandmother who loved him like he was her own son. In 1992, “Nanny Jane” asked Ryan to live with her full time and went on to raise, love, and support him. Born in Jackson, Mississippi, “Nanny Jane” (who is built with a southern determination like no other) dedicated everything she had to raise Ryan as best she could, working multiple jobs to provide for him. Ryan will tell you, “To know Nanny Jane is to love her.” As Ryan says, sometimes it does take a village. Ryan had a music teacher, Ms. Dooley, who guided and helped him, often caring for him (and countless others). It would be her tenacity–and resolve–that would ensure Ryan had a safe place to land after school. Ryan is so proud of Quincy Public Schools and where he came from. He credits that to Ms. Dooley. Twenty-five years later they still enjoy a wonderful relationship. Dreaming Out Loud It would be years before Ryan recognized the enormity of the dysfunction that still surrounded him. He didn’t run from it as much as he ran toward something he needed even more. And he got lucky. The lady down the street, Mrs. Mildred Gates, hired him to work in her garden and listened to his dreams. She didn’t laugh. She didn’t shake her head, or push him away, or tell him how long the odds were. Mrs. Gates let him dream. Every day. However, those statistics and low expectations continued to haunt him. When he finished high school, Ryan boldly announced he wanted to go to college. Never mind that his grades were on the south side of lackluster. Never mind that he scored a dismal 14 on the required ACT. Never mind that there was no money for tuition and such. Never mind that no one took him seriously at home. Ryan had dreams, and they would require college. It was Mrs. Gates who agreed, and she urged him to apply. Interestingly, college applications don’t always make room for dreams. Those pesky numbers told a story that Ryan didn’t want to hear, but the rejection letters came all the same. Ryan just kept applying. He eventually applied again to the same school. The school that had captured his heart. Over and over, that school said no. But Ryan would have none of it. And then he got lucky again. In the middle of summer, the admissions director made a single-handed decision that would change everything for Ryan. The director realized this kid was not going to give up. Fine. We’ll let him in and let the chips fall where they may. Ryan still has memos from the director’s assistant with the wording, “Ryan Tanner is here. Again.” In Fall 1998, Ryan enrolled at Illinois College in Jacksonville, Illinois. It was his dream come true. Of his parents and siblings, Ryan would be the first to earn a high school diploma; the first to attend college. And, the last to graduate either. But what does a young man do when he finally grabs ahold of his dream? He forgets—almost immediately—that dreams take work. Ryan came dangerously close to losing what he had wanted for so long. Books? Papers? Tests? How could they ever compete with all the social activities that a college offers? His first-semester grades proved his days at Illinois College were numbered unless something changed big time. The admission’s committee granted Ryan 1 more semester to improve, otherwise he was out. And that something had to be him. Dr. Karen Dean, a professor he met along the way, told him exactly that—with some degree of volume, if truth be told. The young man in front of her looked as if he had no dreams at all, but in time she learned they were there all along. She would say that this project required a village. But Ryan will tell you she turned his dreams into reality. By the time he graduated with a degree in political science, he had become an avid reader, interested in social justice, politics, and law. He was elected class president, and on graduation day he stood at the podium to address his classmates and their families and friends. It was about as far from where he had started as he could imagine. Such is the power of dreams. Upon graduation, he received the James H. Dunn Fellowship. The Dunn Fellowship Program provides bright, highly motivated college graduates from around the country a unique opportunity to experience firsthand the operations of Illinois State Government for one year. Ryan moved to Springfield, Illinois, and served as a Dunn Fellow under former Governor George Ryan, working in Legislative Affairs and Communications. While in this post, he worked on the controversial Illinois “Death Row 10” project, which resulted in Governor Ryan commuting the sentences of all death row inmates in Illinois from “death” to “life” terms. Ryan stayed in his post to assist Governor Ryan’s successor, Governor-elect Rod Blagojevich, during the transition period; then, in late 2003, Ryan resigned. Back in his early dreaming days, Ryan always thought he wanted to be an attorney. When he received the Dunn Fellowship, he pushed back the pursuit of a law degree. It was time to take up that dream again. St. Louis University School of Law agreed to consider him if he entered a summer seminar for students who showed exceptional personal promise but whose numbers and scores simply did not suggest success. Ryan benefitted greatly during both the Dunn Fellowship and the summer law program. Building the Base However, Ryan soon learned that there were numbers that he could master. No one could have predicted the satisfaction he would find when he began a career in the medical device industry. In 2004, he moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma, and joined a small orthopedics distributorship. In 2006, he was promoted to sales manager. Ryan was responsible for all product lines and for the group’s corporate image, advertising, and management of key accounts. When Ryan resigned in 2008, the device distributor had grown to over $21 million in annual sales, with agencies in Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, and Kansas. IN JULY 2008, RYAN ANNOUNCED THE CREATION OF THE IQ SURGICAL BRAND. HE WAS JOINED IN THE VENTURE BY JAY KROTTINGER. JAY’S BACKGROUND IN BUSINESS AND MUSIC-THEATRE HELPED FURTHER THE BUSINESS BACKBONE AND OVERALL DIRECTION OF IQ SURGICAL. TOGETHER, RYAN AND JAY CREATED A BRAND KNOWN FOR BEST-IN-CLASS SERVICE AND DEVELOPED AN EXTENSIVE PRODUCT PORTFOLIO, FOCUSING ON THE HIP AND KNEE RECONSTRUCTION SECTOR OF ORTHOPEDICS. |
TODAY THE COMPANY INCLUDES ALL SECTORS OF ORTHOPEDICS AS WELL AS REGENERATIVE THERAPIES. IQ SURGICAL PARTNERED WITH BOSTON-BASED OMNI LIFE SCIENCE, THE FIRST INNOVATOR TO OFFER ROBOTIC TOTAL KNEE SURGERY THROUGHOUT THE UNITED STATES. IN LATE 2017, RYAN AND JAY ANNOUNCED THE FORMATION OF TANNINGER COMPANIES, WHICH WOULD SERVE AS THE PARENT COMPANY OF IQ SURGICAL. THEY WENT ON TO ADD OTHER SPECIALTIES TO THE HEALTHCARE SERVICES OFFERED AND SUBSEQUENTLY FORMED TANNINGER SCIENCES TO SERVE AS THEIR FLAGSHIP HEALTHCARE BRAND.
In December 2012, Ryan and Jay announced the creation of Square 1 Theatrics, through which they produced their first off-Broadway production, Flipside: The Patti Page Story. Before launching a national and world tour, Flipside received 18 national awards, including Outstanding Musical at the Kennedy Center’s National Theater Festival. Square 1 had an exciting start, and in the few years since, it has grown in both depth and scope. In February 2013, Ryan and Jay partnered with the Tony Award-winning producers Weisslers (Chicago) and Kagans (Porgy and Bess) to co-produce the revival of Stephen Schwartz’s Pippin, which had wowed Broadway audiences in 1970. Could the magic be recreated almost a half-century later? The show opened in April 2013 at the iconic Music Box Theatre in New York City, starring Patina Miller, Matthew James Thomas, and Broadway legend Andrea Martin. Pippin became the most nominated show on Broadway in 2013 and received the coveted Tony Award for Best Revival Musical, Best Director (Diane Paulus), Best Actress (Patina Miller), and Best Leading Actress (Andrea Martin). The production also won four Drama Desk Awards and eight Outer Critics Circle Awards. The Broadway production grossed over $50 million in the United States, with over 750,000 people having seen the show. In late 2014, the National Tour debuted with rave reviews. Pippin still travels the world, while also playing in regional theatres and high school music departments. In June 2014, Ryan and Jay announced their plans to co-produce their first production in the UK—Tony Award-winning Memphis The Musical. Memphis is a musical by David Bryan (music and lyrics) and Joe DiPietro (lyrics and book). It is loosely based on Memphis disc jockey Dewey Phillips, one of the first white DJs to play black music in the 1950s. Its track record was strong: it played on Broadway for three years, recouped and enjoyed a 3-year U.S. national tour, and won four Tony Awards in 2010, including Best New Musical. In April 2015, the Society of London Theatre recognized the Memphis production with nine nominations, making it the most nominated show of the season. Memphis won two Olivier awards in what was described as the most competitive West End Theatre scene in ten years. Nine months later, Ryan and Jay announced their next project: the new musical, Waitress, with music and lyrics by Grammy nominee, Sara Bareilles. The production premiered on April 24, 2016 at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre in New York City with Tony Award-winner Jessie Mueller (Beautiful). Waitress earned four Tony nominations, including Best New Musical, and its soundtrack was nominated for a Grammy Award. The production has played over 1,500 performances and enjoys $145 million in box office sales. The national tour of Waitress began in October 2017; the West End production opened in the spring of 2018. In their first venture into film, Ryan co-produced Del Shores’ A Very Sordid Wedding, starring Academy Award-winner Whoopi Goldberg and Emmy Award-winner Leslie Jordan. The film enjoyed a box office tour throughout 2017 and 2018 and began streaming in the fall of 2018. Their 2017 stage project captured the hearts of people all over the world. The musical production, Come From Away, is based on the events following the tragedy of 9/11, when 38 planes with over 6500 passengers were stranded in a remote town in Newfoundland. Come From Away tells the story of the local residents who opened their hearts and homes to the stranded travelers, building a new and extraordinary “community” in the days that brought them together. The production was the most nominated musical of the 2017 theatre season, earning Best Musical honors from Drama Desk, Drama League, and the Outer Critics, as well as the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical. Come From Away enjoys productions in New York, Canada, Australia, Asia and a 3-year U.S. tour. In early 2019, the show opened in London to rave reviews and warm reception. On April 10, 2019, Ryan won the UK’s highest theatre award, the Olivier Award. Today, over 1 million people have seen the show, with box office grosses exceeding $133 million. On the eve of the Olivier Awards, Ryan and Jay’s 5th show, a revival of Rogers’ and Hammerstein’s OKLAHOMA!, opened on Broadway. The production was nominated for 8 Tony Awards, including Best Revival of a Musical; on June 9th the iconic revival won the top award for Best Musical Revival, as well as Best Featured Actress in a Musical. In early 2019, Ryan and Jay launched their new entertainment brand, Tanninger Entertainment. What started in the garage of their home in 2008 has now blossomed into a thriving company with a new corporate headquarters located in Tulsa’s iconic Kendall-Whittier Square. Giving Back Ryan’s commitment to social justice is deeply held. Just two days after he and Jay married in Oklahoma in 2013, Ryan’s alma mater, Illinois College, honored him with its Young Alumnus Award. Ryan returned to Illinois College, the focus of so many of his dreams just a decade before, to talk with students about his experiences as a student and his life since. He had come full circle and fully appreciated the significance of being invited as a guest speaker at the college that had told him "no" so many times. There, with hundreds of students seated before him, Ryan encouraged his audience to not stop thinking big about the lives they could live and how they might make a difference in the world. His gifts to his alma mater reflect both the power of dreams and the social justice commitment that can keep those dreams alive. Ryan partnered with his former professor and mentor, Karen Dean, and her students in a community engagement project with a local at-risk elementary school. Ryan had never had books growing up. (In fact, he had never read an entire book until he reached Illinois College!) To mark the end of a semester-long reading program, Ryan presented each child with a copy of award-winning illustrator, Kadir Nelson’s book of Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. Ryan shook the hand of every one of the hundreds of children who received the book that day. Ryan and Jay have supported a wide variety of experiential learning opportunities for students at Illinois College, projects of the Clinton Global Initiative University network, and Care International. Their efforts focus on poverty alleviation, education, and the empowerment of women and girls. They have also been pleased to provide funding to Illinois College students to attend regional meetings on GLBTQ issues—opportunities not available to students at the time Ryan attended the school. In Fall 2016, Ryan “caught the bus” a second time with Dr. Karen Dean to travel to Atlanta and Memphis with current Illinois College students during their fall break. When Ryan was a student, he spent a week on the road with Dean and fellow students, visiting civil rights sites, museums, and organizations throughout the south. This time, he joined the travel program not only as student, but also as a contributor and leader. He had the chance to speak with students about his continuing work on equality and justice issues. He also did not let the opportunity pass by to place books into their hands as well! Ryan currently lives in Tulsa with his husband, Jay Krottinger. Ryan is active in his community and gives back through civic events and multiple non-profit organizations. Most recently, he produced MISFest, a festival celebrating women in music. Ryan serves on three non-profit boards: Tulsa Cares, which delivers social services to those living with HIV/AIDS; The Philbrook Museum of Art; and The John Hope Franklin Center for Reconciliation. He has served twice as the chairman of the Red Ribbon Gala, raising over $2 million for Tulsa Cares. His commitment to Tulsa and Oklahoma led to his recognition as a “40 under 40” honoree by Oklahoma Magazine in 2011. |