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Alumni Success Stories

Mary Pat Ryan ’78

Mary Pat Ryan ’78 made a mistake when she applied to Holy Cross. As Ryan laughingly explains, she was so swept up in the beauty of the campus that she neglected to notice that Holy Cross did not offer her intended major, marketing. Instead, she chose economics and went on to become a top marketing executive in new media entertainment.

In 2002, Ryan joined Sirius Satellite Radio as executive vice president of marketing, and later became executive vice president of subscriber sales and operations. “My job was to ensure a great listening experience for our customers. That required providing content people wanted and refining the technology so that it was affordable and easy to use.” She did her job well – during her four years, SIRIUS grew from a virtual unknown to a major national brand with over six million subscribers.

After starting her career in the marketing department of a publishing company, Ryan held key marketing roles working with HBO, DirectTV, and IMAX films. “Understanding consumer behavior is my passion,” she observes. “Throughout my career, although the delivery channel has changed repeatedly, my focus has always been the management of content for consumers, giving them more choice and satisfaction.” Ryan loves how marketing allows her to “use both parts of my brain because it combines financial discipline and creativity.”

In 2007, Ryan decided to put her marketing acumen and energy to work in the nonprofit arena. "I want to see what good things I can do in the world, with all these years of experience supporting me.”