Nashville, Tenn.–Ryan Inman of Paris has been named the new State FFA Director and directs FFA programming for 220 chapters representing more than 30,000 members statewide. He previously served with the Tennessee Department of Education as the Tennessee FFA Executive Secretary. He’s a familiar face in our area–he was an agricultural teacher and FFA Advisor at Henry County High School, Dyersburg High School and South Gibson Co.
Under his leadership, the FFA chapters experienced exponential growth and his programs achieved numerous national and state honors and recognitions such as earning five National Chapter Award Three Star Ratings and three National Chapter Award Two Star Ratings. In addition to outstanding chapter and team awards, many of his students were selected as state and regional officers, and even more earned proficiency honors and state degrees.
During his teaching career, Ryan was honored with awards from the National Association of Agricultural Educators and the Tennessee Association of Agricultural Educators, awarded the West Tennessee Outstanding Teacher and twice recognized as Tennessee’s Agricultural Education Outstanding Teacher. He has served on the Tennessee FFA Board of Directors, Tennessee FFA Alumni Council, West Tennessee FFA awards committee, Tennessee FFA Foundation Board, Tennessee State Fair committee, and various local county fair boards.
Ryan graduated cum laude from UT Martin with a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture with a concentration in Education. He earned a Master of Science in Agriscience with an emphasis in Agricultural Education from Murray State University in Murray, Kentucky. He also received an Honorary State FFA Degree, an award given to those who provide outstanding service to agriculture, agricultural education, or to FFA.
He grew up in Decatur County on his family’s horse operation. Ryan resides in Paris and is a frequent visitor to national parks and enjoys landscape photography.
Tennessee’s FFA program is among the top five largest in the nation and new state leaders are in place at the Tennessee Department of Agriculture (TDA) to ensure the program remains strong.