Bio

Ryan Peoples brings 20 years of engineering and consulting experience in the aerospace & defense sector. He supports corporate strategy and development, M&A due diligence, and competitive assessment and pricing strategy initiatives for clients spanning defense primes, mid-tier suppliers, and financial sponsors. Ryan is a leading expert on naval markets, in addition to having broad experience across land systems, military aircraft, unmanned systems, and defense electronics. Ryan supports clients across the full lifecycle of strategy and corporate development initiatives, from characterizing the market and competitive landscape through creation of growth strategies and execution of related M&A activities. He has performed both buy-side and sell-side diligence on dozens of businesses in his tenure at RSAdvisors, helping clients to assess deal opportunities and risks in order to properly evaluate strategic value. In addition to US defense clients, Ryan has experience working with international suppliers to help establish and expand their presence in the US market. Naval and maritime markets are a core focus area for Ryan, including client projects that have spanned shipbuilding and repair, undersea warfare, unmanned naval systems, naval electronics, and opportunities in adjacent commercial maritime markets such as shipping and offshore energy. His work in the naval market has comprised growth strategy development, M&A due diligence, supplier and competitive landscape assessments, and program cost analysis and pricing strategy. Prior to joining RSAdvisors in 2011, Ryan was a management consultant in the aerospace & defense practice of Charles River Associates (CRA) from 2004 to 2010. At CRA, he led and executed engagements focused on M&A strategy and due diligence, corporate and market strategy development, and market, program, and technology assessments for a broad cross-section of industry participants. Before transitioning from engineering to business consulting, Ryan was a research associate at the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA) from 2000 to 2004, where he supported technical studies performed for the Department of Defense. His work at IDA entailed conceptual design and analysis for a range of defense technologies and systems including ballistic missile defense, unmanned systems, and Future Combat Systems. He also interned at Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works as a structural design engineer on advanced programs. Ryan is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he earned S.B. and S.M. degrees in Aeronautics & Astronautics.