Jack Ryan (politician)

Jack Ryan
Personal details
Born
John Clemens Ryan

(1959-10-06) October 6, 1959 (age 65)
Wilmette, Illinois, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
Spouses
(m. 1991; div. 1999)
Amanda Klingman
(m. 2008)
EducationDartmouth College (BA)
Harvard University (JD, MBA)

John Clemens Ryan[1] (born October 6, 1959) is an American former investment banker and politician who was a candidate in the 2004 U.S. Senate race in Illinois. In 2000, he retired as an active partner at Goldman Sachs to teach at Hales Franciscan High School, a private Catholic high school in Chicago's Bronzeville neighborhood.

His 2004 campaign for the Senate, against Barack Obama, received widespread media attention for the disclosure of sealed custody documents stemming from his divorce from actress Jeri Ryan. The unsealing of those documents detailed allegations that Ryan wanted his wife to perform sexual acts in public which in turn led to Ryan's withdrawal from the campaign.[2][3]

In March 2005, Ryan launched 22nd Century Media, a news media company dedicated to providing hyper-local news in both print and digital media formats. In 2015, Ryan left 22nd Century Media to launch REX, a technology-based real estate services company that works outside the MLS to sell homes.[4] The value proposition of REX was to reduce the cost of real estate commissions from the customary 6% to 3.3%.[5] This led to a legal battle with Zillow and the National Association of Realtors that responded by dismantling their commission structure to move away from the market-dominating 6% commission structure which CNN called "seismic" in its implications.[6]

  1. ^ "Engagement of Jeri Lynn Zimmermann and John Clemens Ryan". Chicago Tribune. 1991-06-08. Archived from the original on September 28, 2013.
  2. ^ "Ryan File a Bombshell". Chicago Tribune.
  3. ^ "Jack Ryan on sex scandal and dropping out of his Senate run". NBC news.
  4. ^ Gallagher, Dave (October 1, 2023). "Zillow wins jury verdict in lawsuit over its display of non-MLS home listings".
  5. ^ Bahney, David Goldman, Anna (2024-03-15). "The 6% commission on buying or selling a home is gone after Realtors association agrees to seismic settlement | CNN Business". CNN. Retrieved 2024-07-29.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)