40 Under 40: Ryan Biren
Chief Information Officer; THOR Industries; With company: 3 Years | In industry: 7 Years
At THOR Industries, Ryan Biren has defined his leadership by transforming how the enterprise operates around data and technology. Promoted to CIO after just two years with the company, Ryan recognized that leveraging modern AI and analytics required restructuring organizational boundaries across THOR’s decentralized family of operating companies.
Ryan spearheaded the buildout of a unified data platform across THOR’s global footprint, bringing together fragmented information from independent business units into a single foundation. On top of this infrastructure, he and his team developed comprehensive market intelligence capabilities spanning North American and European operations, providing leadership with a shared, fact-based view of market dynamics, demand and product performance. Ryan also drove the introduction of practical AI solutions, advancing the company from initial experimentation to enterprise-scale operational capability.
“Ryan’s leadership is defined by a willingness to change how the organization works, not just what technology it uses,” his nominator says. “He recognized that the greatest barrier to leveraging data and AI wasn’t tooling — it was structure. Ryan drove the evolution of THOR’s organizational model to create the conditions under which enterprise data and AI initiatives could actually be launched and executed, rather than stalling at the seams between independent business units. That is a harder and more consequential form of leadership than deploying any single system.”
Ryan’s strategic approach has enabled various disciplines — from sales to executive management — to base decisions on consistent global data, establishing a significant competitive advantage in a fluctuating market environment. Furthermore, his vision has attracted top-tier technical and analytical talent to build within the manufacturing sector.
“Ryan has assembled an unusually experienced and dynamic team to lead these initiatives under him, a signal that senior technical and analytical talent will follow him and want to build alongside him,” his nominator says. “Leaders who can pull that caliber of people into a manufacturing enterprise, in a competitive market for data and AI talent, are rare. Within the RV industry specifically, where data maturity has historically lagged other manufacturing sectors, Ryan is helping set the standard for what a modern, data-driven operating model looks like.
At home, Ryan and his wife, Julia, are parents to their one-year-old daughter, Avi. In his personal time, Ryan enjoys spending time with his family, traveling internationally, and playing the guitar.
Ryan’s advice for up-and-coming leaders in the RV industry:
Get close to the work and people before you try to change it. The best leaders I know can tell you exactly how a plant runs or how a deal closes on a dealer lot — that’s the difference between a system/process/tool people actually use and one they work around.
Spend time on the floor.
What it means to Ryan to be a 40 Under 40 honoree:
Technology is becoming critical to how this industry grows, and it’s good to see that reflected in who gets recognized. I care about that because the upside is real — better products, better dealer experience, better decisions. This recognition tells me the work my teams and the operating company leaders have done together is landing, and it makes me want to move faster on what’s next.
