Patricia E. Ryan

Patricia E. "Pat" Ryan is a human rights and women's rights advocate. She served as executive director of the Maine Human Rights Commission, a state agency tasked with enforcement of Maine's anti-discrimination laws, for over three decades. Prior to that, she chaired the Maine Commission for Women and the Maine State Personnel Board. She was a co-founder of the Maine Women's Lobby. She was inducted into the Maine Women's Hall of Fame in 2014.

Career Ryan began her career as a personnel administrator at Polaroid Corporation in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She next worked as projects coordinator for the nonprofit Center for Natural Areas, an environmental resource management company. In 1974 Maine became the seventh state to ratify the amendment. and chair of the Maine State Personnel Board. In 1977 she was appointed as chair of the Maine State Meeting, which crafted proposals for improving women's rights in advance of the 1977 National Women's Conference.

In 1978 Ryan and eight other women founded the Maine Women's Lobby, a group that lobbies for equal opportunities for women and girls. The Commission tries to resolve these complaints by working with claimants, but if a resolution cannot be reached, the case is taken to court. Ryan anticipated that she would stay in the position for five years, In 2014 she was the recipient of the Roger Baldwin Award from the American Civil Liberties Union of Maine. Also in 2014, she was inducted into the Maine Women's Hall of Fame. They have two daughters and reside in Brunswick.