INTERVIEW WITH THE MONEY MAN: RYAN PARKS

by Amy Bush

When Johan Bruyneel accepted the Team Astana job, he took numerous highly qualified people from the Discovery Channel Team. One of the “chosen ones” was Ryan Parks, who has the experience and ability to keep a multi-national cycling team on track financially. I talked with Ryan to try to get a little insight into how the sponsor’s dollars are put to work and to find out a little about him personally as well.

Amy: Now to have a job as an accountant, you certainly need a college education. Where did you go to school to get your degree?

Ryan: I went to Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas. It’s a small school, just north of Austin.

Amy: When did you start working for Tailwind Sports/Capital Sports & Entertainment and how did that job come about?

Ryan: I started in May of 2005 and the way it happened is kind of funny. I was working for Price Waterhouse Coopers here in Austin as a Senior Auditor and I was getting burned out on the whole public accounting thing. So I went to a head hunter and said “Hey, I’d like to find a job. Let me know what’s out there and what comes up.” At the same time, some of my friends were riding in the MS 150. One of my good friends, Gates, who is a big guy, completed the MS 150. I thought to myself if my friend Gates can get into shape and ride the MS 150, maybe I could start cycling, get into shape and do it the next year. So I just bought a bike and it was the first road bike I had since I was 12 or 13. A week later, literally a week after that happened, the head hunter came back to me and said “Hey, there’s this job--- you probably won’t be interested. It’s an accountant for a cycling team”. She gave me the details and I said I was really interested in the job. I got all my stuff together including my 3 references and went to interview for the job. The person I eventually worked under, Laura Ritts worked with one of my references in Houston. That certainly didn’t hurt my chances.

Amy: Everything just fell into place.

Ryan: Yes, exactly. It was really kind of incredible. They had been looking at people for a really long time. I was interviewed at the very tail-end of their search when they were sort of like “We’ve got to pick somebody” and then I came up. All the stars aligned, I guess. Laura Ritts was the controller of CSE (Capital Sports & Entertainment) and I was the controller of the team so I reported to her.

Amy: How did the move to Team Astana happen?

Ryan: It was in August of last year that we found out the team wasn’t going to go forward so I was looking for other jobs and Johan said “Would you be interested in doing something for Team Astana?” And I said “Yeah, I’d love to do something.” At first it was something smaller and then he decided he wanted me to do the CFO job. It worked out really great.

Ryan on the cobbles

Amy: Can you tell us exactly what your position is and your major responsibilities?

Ryan: Chief Financial Officer is my job title and the responsibilities are everything financially related to the team. So that’s things like rider and staff salaries, vendors, sponsors, billing sponsors, doing the budget for Johan. We talk a lot about what the budget is, for instance, lately it’s been about the new riders for next year.

Amy: Is it true you have to travel once a month to Luxembourg to pay the bills?

Ryan: That’s pretty accurate. Fortunately now it’s more like once every 2 months.

Amy: And that’s something that you have to do? You can’t do it from Texas?

Ryan: Well, I can do most things but it’s more convenient just in terms of getting the print-outs and checking the mail and getting the original documents, that sort of thing. Since our main office is in Luxembourg and all the official documents get sent there, it’s probably a good idea for me to be there every once in a while anyway.

Amy: Describe what a typical day would be for you.

Ryan: A typical day when I’m not in Luxembourg is I wake up and check all my emails that I’ve received at ungodly hours of the morning since we’re 7 hours behind Europe. I try to answer all those and then I work usually the rest of the morning on whatever needs to happen whether that’s invoicing or talking with Jared. We have been talking about the website lately, as well as our hospitality event at the Vuelta and possibly selling some clothing at the Vuelta.

Amy: Do you set your own hours or are you more geared towards European time?

Ryan: I still wake up around 8am. The only difference is I don’t have the commute in Austin, which is nice. I pretty much just set my own hours. The main thing is just getting the work done.

Amy: What’s the most difficult part of your job? Travel?

Ryan: Yes, the travel is pretty long. It puts me out of commission for…..it’s a good 24 hours of traveling and then recovering from that is usually about a day on both sides.

Amy: What do you like most about your job?

Ryan: Really, I’d say, the people. Working with Johan, Duffy, Jared and Barbara and all the staff and the riders. It’s really a good environment; obviously, it’s a lot more fun than any other accounting job I can imagine.

Amy: So you’re working on the budget for next year now?

Ryan: Right.

Amy: Who decides what percentage of the budget goes towards specific things such as rider and staff salaries, travel and equipment?

Ryan: Johan is definitely the final word on everything.

Amy: Is there an allowance in the budget for something like a last minute invite to the Giro? How did that work out?

Ryan: Yes, well, interestingly enough, our original budget assumed that we would be going to the Giro. If we hadn’t gone to the Giro it was going to be a budget variance. The fact that we ultimately did it just fit right in with the original budgeted plan.

Amy: Are there any fees that the team has to pay to participate in races?

Ryan: No, but the team does pay for a ProTour license.

Amy: What kind of expense is it to send the team to a race such as the Vuelta?

Ryan: The biggest expense is usually the airplane tickets, especially nowadays with rising airfares. And then gas for the team vehicles, hotels, and meals---that sort of thing.

Amy: Have you ever had the chance to go to any of the races?

Ryan: Yes and that’s another bright spot of my job. I get to participate in some of the hospitality since our management group, even at Team Discovery Channel, was really small and at Team Astana it’s even smaller. I think there are about 5 or 6 people who handle the day to day management. So we all have to pitch in to be hosts for the sponsors when they come to the races. I have been lucky enough to go to Paris-Roubaix and to the Tour de France in 2005, 2006 and 2007 for the last weekend in Paris. That was always our big sponsor hospitality event of the year. I would oversee the budget and be there as a host to welcome people and talk to them and show them around the team.

Amy: It sounds like you really enjoy that.

Ryan: Absolutely. I’d say the most interesting instance of that was when I acted as the doorman for Lance’s final party in 2005. Since I had done all the billing, I was the one with the list of who had tickets and who was supposed to be there. So I and another co-worker got to check everybody in coming into the party because, of course, we had a bunch of people who were trying to crash. It was amazing, we had a red carpet and journalists snapping pictures, it was kind of crazy. And there I was kind of the bouncer, all 180 lbs of me.

Always ready to ride

Amy: Are you Texas born and raised?

Ryan: I am Texas born. However, I was kind of raised all over. When I was 5 we moved to South Carolina, then Wyoming and eventually we moved back to Texas.

Amy: Do you speak any other languages besides English?

Ryan: I wouldn’t say I speak French but I make an attempt.

Amy: Is it passable?

Ryan: Ah, no. But I am working on it. I was in Luxembourg and we have some office people that help out in Luxembourg. Some of them don’t speak English very well, I mean, I think their English is better than my French. Anyway, we were eating lunch there one day and I had some spaghetti and noodles left over and I was about to throw them in the trash. One of the office people was pregnant and she was like “No, no, no, don’t throw that in the trash” and then she put it in a take home tray. And I thought to myself “Ok, that’s a little weird” and she said something and I did not really catch it. Later I was talking to one of my other co-workers and I remarked “Wow, I guess she has to eat a lot being pregnant.” And he just looked at me and he started laughing and he said “No, she’s taking it home to feed to the chickens”.

Amy: What do you do for fun?

Ryan: I read, watch movies. I also like to ride my bike. I have been doing the MS 150 every year since 2006 so this is my 3rd year doing it. It has been a lot of fun.

Amy: What kind of music do you enjoy?

Ryan: I really like U2, The Black Crowes, Nickel Creek, Mates of State, Imogen Heap, that sort of thing.

Amy: What would be your dream vacation if you could go anywhere in the world and do anything you wanted to do?

Ryan: I think it would be really cool to do a bicycle tour, if I could do anything, like a bicycle tour across Europe and Asia or something like that. Maybe that would be too long.

Amy: But it’s a dream vacation so you can make it anything you want it to be.

Ryan: Maybe a combination of train and bike then.

Amy: Who or what always makes you laugh?

Ryan: My wife, Celeste. We entertain each other quite a bit. Movies, The Daily Show, The Colbert Report.

Amy: Have you had any major turning points in your life?

Ryan: I’d say getting the job with the Discovery Channel Team was a pretty big turning point.

Amy: It’s amazing how all the pieces just seemed to line up perfectly.

Ryan: Exactly. It felt like it was meant to be.

Amy: Tell me a little bit about your family.

Ryan: I have an older brother and a sister-in-law that are both contractors for the military. My dad is a university professor. My parents and my grandfather live in Georgetown and I am really close to them. I go on a trip every year with my grandfather ever since my grandmother passed away in early 2002. We have gone over to Europe, I think, 3 times, Alaska twice, northeast New England area. It’s been a lot of fun.

Amy: That must mean a lot to him that you do that.

Ryan: Yeah, and a lot to me too. This year we did a trip up the Mississippi river.

Amy: On a boat?

Ryan: On a boat. On a steamboat.

Amy: How long was that?

Ryan: It was a week and we went from New Orleans to Memphis.

Amy: And you slept on the boat?

Ryan: Slept on the boat.

Amy: I didn’t know you could do that.

Ryan: When we did it, it was the first time that they were able to make all the stops this year because the Mississippi was so high. And it was still really high when we were on it. I heard that ours was one of the last trips that they were able to do that because the Mississippi went back up too high for them to stop at all of the ports.

Ryan and Celeste

Amy: Tell me about your wife.

Ryan: We got married last October, coming up on a year.

Amy: How did you meet?

Ryan: We met at Southwestern. So we took things really fast. We only dated for 7 years before we got married.