Dan Ryu

Dan Ryu serves as Chief Operating Officer of Douglass & Runger. He brings decades of experience building the systems, teams, and infrastructure that let owners focus on what they do best.

Dan began his career as an entrepreneur. In 2000, he co-founded E-spirit English Language Institute in Seoul, South Korea, and built it from zero into a two-branch market leader with more than 56 full-time employees. The business grew almost entirely through word of mouth, on the strength of its service standards and training systems. He led it for 15 years.

Returning to the U.S., Dan served as Director of Acquisitions for a real estate–focused private equity group operating assets across 12 states. There he helped double the company’s portfolio. He was also one of five leaders selected to implement the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) across the organization.

Dan then spent six years as Chief Operating Officer of a private family office managing a diversified real estate portfolio spanning multifamily, office, industrial, and hospitality assets. Within his first year, he had taken over much of the day-to-day operations. That freed the principal to focus on strategy, acquisitions, and long-term growth. Over his tenure, portfolio revenue grew 80% and enterprise value more than quadrupled.

Working inside a family office gave Dan a close view of the matters that Douglass & Runger’s clients face. He coordinated with attorneys, CPAs, and advisors on complex estate, trust, and business matters, and saw firsthand how much good counsel matters when the stakes are personal.

Dan is known for a first-principles, systems-first approach to operations. He builds clear processes, accountability, and technology that let a growing organization scale without losing what made it successful. He is also an early adopter of tech tools, including AI, and brings that fluency to modernizing how work gets done.

Dan and his wife, Yoon Jung Yang, have two children, Cecilia and Xavier, and a high-energy poodle named Hazel. In his free time, Dan enjoys listening to audiobooks (legal thrillers are a favorite), learning new skills, and supporting and mentoring other entrepreneurs.

He is also an avid sports fan, rooting for his hometown Los Angeles Lakers and, thanks to his kids, his adopted team, the UGA Bulldogs. In the fall, you’ll find him agonizing over his fantasy football lineup as he vies for another championship against the same group of friends he’s competed with for more than two decades.