Paul Davis Ryan (born January 29, 1970) is an American politician who served as the 54th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from October 2015 to January 2019.He was also the 2012 vice presidential nominee of the Republican Party, running unsuccessfully alongside Mitt Romney. Ryan, a native of Janesville, Wisconsin, graduated from Miami University in 1992. He spent five years working for Republicans in Washington, D.C.