You may know Ryan McDonald as the guy who STILL drives around with Jersey plates, but there is a lot more to Ryan than meets the eye.

As a freshman at Tufts (you may have heard of it), Ryan met two people who would prove to be extremely influential in his life and ultimately his path to JC&A. 

The first was Zack Cummings, a 15-year-old boy battling Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia who was drafted by the Tufts’ Men’s Football team.  Zack became a teammate, a brother, and an inspiration to Ryan.  While Ryan became Captain and Quarterback of the Jumbos, Zack endured the grueling effects of cancer treatments. ­ Zack leaned on the team, and his Captain, for support, while Ryan and his fellow teammates relied on Zack for perspective and motivation.

Having the unique opportunity to be a student athlete alongside a Team IMPACT child gave Ryan a passion for the Team IMPACT program, which led him to develop a relationship with Jay, who we all know is a proud Tufts football alum AND a founding father of Team IMPACT.  Seeing the positive impact that Jay and JC&A had in the community, specifically through Team IMPACT, led Ryan to pursue an opportunity here at JC&A as a Project Coordinator and ultimately to his current roles as a Project Manager and a Team IMPACT Young Leaders Board member.

Ryan jumped right in at JC&A, learning from our best PMs and PXs on projects including the Park School, Middlesex Savings Bank, PEGA EBC and 690 Canton Street. With so many great projects under his belt, it’s hard to choose a favorite, but he recalls one of his proudest moments being the Park School Summer 2021 renovation. “The team was up against a hard deadline with the looming start of school and was dealing with the supply chain impacts at the peak of the pandemic. It was mid-August and it felt like all of the cards were stacked against us, but the team of JC&A, Utile Design, RFS Engineers, and the Park School gelled together to deliver Certificate of Occupancy the Monday of Labor Day so school could begin the next day. What a rush!”.

Ryan is a natural leader on and off the field (and in the office!), taking time to mentor Coops and interns, volunteering for JCAres events, and serving on the Team IMPACT Young Leaders Board. He has a soft spot for our Dog Days of Summer tradition and loves getting to play with everyone’s dogs until he can get one of his own! He appreciates the “JC&A Way”, which to him is our innate ability to build true relationships and camaraderie among our employees, clients, design team and partners so that each project is a genuine collaborative experience.

“Working at JC&A has proven to me that enjoying the people and teams that you work with makes the insurmountable feel very accomplishable,” says Ryan, which sounds a lot like his experience with the Jumbos and Team IMPACT coming full circle.