New Los Alamos County HR Manager Ty Ryburn recently in his office. Photo by Kirsten Laskey/ladailypost.com

BY KIRSTEN LASKEY
Los Alamos Daily Post
kirsten@ladailypost.com

For Ty Ryburn, the newly hired Los Alamos County Human Resources Manager, public service runs in the family.

“I’ve always felt strongly about serving the public,” Ryburn said, adding that he has family members who are public servants.

He said his father and stepmother have spent large parts of their respective careers working with the U.S. Department of the Interior-Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). Also, Ryburn’s grandmother was a nurse for Indian Health Service (IHS), and his grandfather spent his career working with the IHS as a lobbyist on Capitol Hill for Native Americans’ rights issues and serving as assistant secretary of the Interior overseeing the BIA.

“I developed a strong public service ethos and motivations from growing up listening to my parents and grandparents passionately discussing service to their constituents,” Ryburn said.

“I’ve grown up with a strong sense of serving the public in an ethical and transparent way,” he added.

Ryburn himself has a lengthy career in the public sector. Before arriving to work at the County on June 26, he worked for seven years as the human resources director for Rio Rancho and brings a total of 16 years of experience in human resources to his new job.

He explained working for Los Alamos seems attractive because “it’s a beautiful place. It’s a great community.”

“I was looking for a growth opportunity in a good community and this is a good opportunity for me personally and for my family,” Ryburn added.

He said he feels he can make a positive impact in Los Alamos.

“The thing that interests me is I enjoy working for the residents and citizens and I think it’s a great way to use my expertise and passion to serve the citizens of this community,” Ryburn said.

Human Resources is more of an internal operation, he said, it is not as visible as other government departments such as police or fire. Still, it is no less important.

“From an internal standpoint, hopefully we enable our employees to go out and serve the public in the best and most transparent way,” Ryburn said. “I look forward to helping develop and guide policies and help with recruitment and retainment of our employees to best serve our residents. I see it as my responsibility to help our County leadership … and make decisions that have a positive effect on our residents.”

In the past, Ryburn has had a lot of success in this field. When he worked in Rio Rancho, Ryburn said he was given a “clean slate”. As a result, he was able to implement several things including improvements to an employee training and development program as well as an employee performance evaluation program.

“I think probably the biggest accomplishment really was being able to break down barriers and work in tandem with other departments,” Ryburn said. “I want to be able to work with all our departments so they run smoothly and efficiently and achieve their goals.”

He has only worked in Los Alamos for a week but Ryburn said he is busy learning about the County, its different departments and how the Human Resources Department functions. He added he is working with his staff and learning how he can help them better function to the best of their abilitities.

“Everyone has been so supportive and welcoming to me – both from a work standpoint and a life standpoint … they have made me feel at home and have been so inviting and supportive …”

Los Alamos is not a completely new environment for Ryburn; he pointed out his sister-in-law lives in Los Alamos and father- and mother-in-law live near Espanola.

“Los Alamos as a whole seems like such a great place to work and live with all the things it has to offer,” he said. “I love the scenery and just being outside here. I can’t wait to explore all the running trails.”

Besides running, Ryburn said he loves to explore the outdoors as well as exercise and eat. He said he looks forward to trying out the local restaurants.

“I’m very excited to have the opportunity to work in Los Alamos,” he said. “Los Alamos County has a reputation of being a great organization … I feel excited and honored to be a part of that and I hope to provide guidance and leadership to help make Los Alamos an even stronger organization.”

Ryburn replaces former HR Manager Jennifer Dorian who left the position in March.