Over the past twenty years, Gena has simultaneously been in both the employment industry  and the advocacy space.  She is the co-owner of a boutique executive search firm, GM Ryan International, a Forbes Best Recruiters List Winner in 2020; with experience across contract staffing, temp-perm, contingency, retained, and recruitment operations. She is also a long standing advocacy leader in the disability community having served as a board member for multiple organizations, the founder of a non-profit, Devenio, Inc., as well as the Race4Respect™ 5K in DC on Pennsylvania Ave. for Down Syndrome Awareness, and a Maryland Top 100 Women Winner in 2019 awarded by the Daily Ledger.  Gena lives in Bethesda and is the mother of three adult daughters, one of which happens to have Down syndrome.