Episode Details

Many people have never heard of Ryan Furby, yet they have likely experienced the impact of the work he does.

After an international career with some of the world’s largest corporations, including FedEx, Philip Morris International, and Biogen, Ryan returned to Louisiana and quietly built a consulting practice that helps organizations navigate complex business challenges through strategic communications, public affairs, and reputation management.

Today, as CEO of RAF Strategic Communications and Public Affairs, he advises companies while also giving generously of his time to Acadiana’s nonprofit and civic organizations.

In this episode of Discover Lafayette, Ryan demystifies a profession that often operates behind the scenes. He explains how organizations earn, and sometimes lose, the public’s trust, why communications belong at the executive table, and how thoughtful leadership can determine whether a company thrives during moments of opportunity or crisis.

As Ryan succinctly explains, “I’m in the trust business. I’m in the reputation business.“

Louisiana Roots, Global Experience

Ryan’s career has taken him around the world, but Louisiana has always remained home.

Born in Baton Rouge, raised in Mandeville, and educated at Loyola University New Orleans, Ryan grew up with deep family ties throughout South Louisiana. His mother’s family has roots in Lafayette stretching back generations, while his father’s family is from Alexandria.

After nearly twenty years of pursuing increasingly demanding international leadership roles, Ryan found himself burned out.

“I’d been chasing jobs and money and career all around the world for 20 years,” he recalls. “I was at a point where I was really burned out.”

Initially, moving to Lafayette was intended to be temporary, a place where he and his wife could regroup while raising their two young children closer to family.

“We’ll spend a year. See how it goes.” Eight years later, Lafayette has become home. That decision changed not only his family’s life, but the community that would eventually benefit from his leadership.

Learning Leadership at FedEx

Ryan credits much of his professional development to his years at FedEx, where he describes the company as “my training ground” and “my MBA.”

Working inside one of the world’s largest transportation companies gave him unprecedented exposure to executive decision-making and corporate strategy.

Few people influenced him more than FedEx founder Fred Smith. “I thought of him as a professor,” Ryan says. “Every time he spoke, I just absorbed all of that.”

Smith’s military background shaped the culture of the company through a simple but powerful philosophy: “Shoot. Move. Communicate.”

Ryan explains that the phrase represented more than a slogan. It embodied how organizations must continually adapt, execute, and communicate internally to remain successful.

At FedEx, communications wasn’t an afterthought, it was part of executive leadership. Communications professionals sat alongside legal counsel, operations leaders, marketing executives, and division presidents, helping shape decisions before they became headlines.

As Ryan explains, their role was often to become “the conscience of the organization,” helping leaders ask difficult questions: