David Ryan

Chief Operations Officer

David was born and raised in Melbourne, completing year 12 there prior to joining the Australian Defence Force (ADF) and enjoying a 27 year career, 25 of them as a pilot in the Air Force. During that time he spent many tours as an operational pilot as well as the Operations Officer in various units, including as the Staff Officer Operations within the Defence Section in the Australian High Commission in PNG. He also served as a project manager for the Air Force’s Commercial Support Program.

As an Operations Officer, David was involved in the planning and daily running of the flying and flying related activities of units, including logistic support, maintenance and crew scheduling. 

In PNG he was responsible for coordinating ADF activities with other Australian Government Agencies such as AusAID and with NGOs operating within PNG for the delivery of humanitarian aid for various projects. 

David has been the COO for We Al-li since the company started in 2011. He is responsible for the day-to-day running of the company including scheduling and planning, logistics support, payroll and financial management on behalf of Dr Atkinson as the Chief Executive Officer.