Ryan Clayton Bank (born April 27, 1981) is an American technology executive who applies aerial imagery and open‑source intelligence to risk management and disaster response. He is an executive advisor at Vexcel, sits on the company’s Board of Advisors, and founded the not‑for‑profit ''Geospatial Insurance Consortium (GIC)''.

Early life and education

Bank grew up in Chicago’s northern suburbs and graduated from Deerfield High School. He earned a Bachelor of Philosophy in Communication from Northwestern University, graduating ''cum laude''.

Career

Social‑media rescue analytics

During the

2010 Haiti earthquake The 2010 Haiti earthquake was a catastrophic Moment magnitude scale, magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake that struck Haiti at 16:53 local time (21:53 UTC) on Tuesday, 12 January 2010. The epicenter was near the town of Léogâne, Ouest (departm ...

Bank, then a volunteer with the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, built a platform that parsed SMS, Twitter and Facebook posts in real time. Within the first month it processed more than 18,000 distress messages, routing coordinates to military and NGO responders.

Vexcel Group

Bank joined Vexcel in 2016 and today serves as Global Managing Director. The company’s aerial‑imagery program operates more than 100 aircraft and publishes roughly 150,000 ultra‑high‑resolution images per day, covering the United States and 40‑plus countries.

Geospatial Insurance Consortium (GIC)

Bank launched the GIC in 2017 with the

National Insurance Crime Bureau The National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) is a U.S. insurance industry trade association focused on preventing, detecting and defeating insurance fraud and vehicle theft through information analysis, investigations, training, legislative advoc ...

and Vexcel to give insurers access to aerial imagery before and after disasters. Its first season captured 24,000 sq mi after Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria, processing 100 TB of data within days. By 2024 the consortium had photographed 99 % of U.S. properties, using imagery and AI to flag roof damage, vegetation hazards and undeclared structures.

Government and advisory roles

* ''National Geospatial Advisory Committee (NGAC)'' – Appointed to a three‑year term in December 2024. * ''United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR)'' – Private‑sector representative advocating aerial imaging and AI for disaster‑risk strategies.

Media production

''A Private War'' (2001)

While a student, Bank produced ''A Private War'', a documentary about Polish physician Eugeniusz Łazowski and his wartime “fake typhus” rescue.

Recognition

* ''Risk & Insurance – Risk All Star (2018)'' for accelerating catastrophe imagery delivery to insurers and emergency managers.

Personal life

Bank became engaged to Austrian psychotherapist and television personality Dr. Sandra Köhldorfer on 21 November 2022 during the finale of ''Hochzeit auf den ersten Blick'', the German‑language '' Married at First Sight''. Their daughter, Kaia Amelia, was born seven weeks prematurely on 15 January 2025.

Selected filmography

* ''A Private War'' (2001) – Producer

References

External links

* {{Official website, https://ryanbank.com/ 1981 births Living people American technology executives Open‑source intelligence People from Lake Forest, Illinois Northwestern University alumni Disaster management Members of the National Geospatial Advisory Committee