Ryan McGuire

President

Finding his way into music thanks to his guitar-playing father, Ryan McGuire set off early down a path filled with the sounds of Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix and the Allman Brothers. After graduating from Albion College, he became obsessed with acoustics, recording techniques and vintage gear and began building his first professional recording setup.

"Soon after graduating, I went to work building my first recording studio, which evolved over time into my current studio, The 45 Factory" McGuire says. "In 2005, I started buying gear for the studio from Vintage King and while picking up an order, I met Vintage King co-owner Andrew Nehra. I was super impressed with Vintage King as a unique and invaluable resource for people like myself that were in the process of building their gear collections so thought "I would love to work here. About six months later I started as an employee in the shipping department packing boxes and sweeping up."

Since starting in an entry position within the shipping department, McGuire has risen through the ranks and held many impactful positions, including a long tenured role as one of the company’s leading sales consultants. In more recent years, he has served as Director of Business Development, a position which saw him lead the sales, marketing and merchandising strategy of the company.

In 2018, Mike and Andrew Nehra announced that Ryan McGuire would be taking on the role of President. With a focus on providing strategic leadership for the company, creating operational efficiencies through deeper integration of technology and improving the customer experience.

In 2020, co-founder Mike Nehra stepped down as CEO of the company to focus on time with his family and McGuire was promoted to the position of President & CEO.

"The company has grown a lot since I first started working here nearly twenty years ago - from 10 employees to 100 - but it's never lost that sense of family," McGuire states. "It also hasn’t lost that focus on honesty and transparency with our customers that made me a believer on day one. We are passionate about our customers and work everyday to ensure their experience is the absolute best in the industry!"

Q & A

What does it mean to you to work at Vintage King?
Being able to work in a family atmosphere where everyone is aligned by a love for music and recording is like a dream come true. Our customers come first and our main mission is to help them find new ways to inspire their art and improve their workflows on a daily basis. That's a mission that truly feels good to be a part of.

What is your favorite album of all time and why?
Harvest by Neil Young or The Band’s self-titled record. The soul, the feel, the songwriting and how they were recorded are all amazing to me. Neil and Levon Helm are icons and I play those records constantly.

What do you like to do when you're not working at Vintage King?
Get in the studio and create; I'm still actively producing and engineering records whenever I can. While not in the studio though, I like to get out on the water and relax with friends. Michigan has beautiful lakes and I've been out floating on them since I was a kid.

Meet the Rest of the Team