Russ Ryba is a partner in the Business Law Department of Foley & Lardner LLP, and a member of the firm’s Transactional & Securities Practice and Energy and Health Care Industry Teams. He is also co-chair of the firm's Senior Living Industry Team. Mr. Ryba practices in the areas of mergers, acquisitions and divestitures; public offerings and private placements of equity, debt and hybrid securities; public company compliance with federal and state securities laws and reporting requirements; corporate governance; and general business counseling (including assisting in the organization, development, and financing of startup and development stage companies). His practice crosses a broad range of companies and industries, including public utilities and public utility holding companies, commercial printers, media companies, skilled nursing and assisted living facilities owners and operators, manufacturing and distribution companies, service companies and automotive dealerships. His clients range from large publicly-held corporations to mid and small cap private and publicly-held companies to startup entities and entrepreneurial individuals.
Mr. Ryba has represented buyers, sellers and investors in over 120 domestic and international business combination transactions aggregating over $8.8 billion in total consideration, including seven tender offers with over $1.45 billion in aggregate consideration. Mr. Ryba also has represented issuers and underwriters in over 40 public securities offerings or private placements raising more than $5.2 billion, and has represented issuers in tender offers to repurchase more than $725 million of their equity or debt securities. He currently represents three publicly traded companies which he took public (Quad/Graphics, Inc., a leading global provider of print and related services, Journal Communications. Inc., a diversified media company, and National Research Corporation, a leading provider of performance measurement and improvement services, health care analytics and governance education to the health care industry), as well as several other publicly-traded and privately-held companies (including Integrys Energy Group, Inc., a public utility holding company, and its public utility subsidiaries, Wisconsin Public Service Corp., Peoples Gas and North Shore Gas; and Extendicare Real Estate Investment Trust and its subsidiary Extendicare Health Services, Inc., long-term care providers in Canada and the United States).
Mr. Ryba previously served on the board of directors of the Bay View Community Center of Milwaukee, Inc. (a nonprofit agency designed to develop the individual, provide support and strengthen families). He is a member of the Dean's Advisory Council and the Alumni Admissions Program at Duke University School of Law, as well as a member of DukeSource, a career advisory panel for undergraduates at Duke University.
Mr. Ryba graduated, with high honors, from Duke University School of Law in 1989. He received his Bachelor of Science, magna cum laude, from Northeast Missouri State University (n/k/a Truman State University), in business administration/personnel management.
Mr. Ryba is a member of the American Bar Association, the State Bar of Wisconsin and the Milwaukee Bar Association, as well as a member of the Business Law Sections of those professional affiliations. He has been a frequent author on securities law and takeover defense matters and was included in the 1991 edition of Who's Who Among Rising Young Americans and the 1996 and 1995 editions of International Who's Who of Professionals. Mr. Ryba is listed in the 2006 and 2007 editions of Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business.