Alumni Spotlight: Brian Egger '07

With over 13,000 Father Ryan alumni around the world, there are many stories to tell. We love connecting with our community to find out what life has looked like post-graduation. From overnight camping and crosscountry skiing in Antarctica to throwing frisbee with the Hamar tribe in Ethiopia, life has been adventure-filled for Brian Egger ’07!

“I graduated with a business degree from DePaul University in 2011. Right after graduating, I started a sales job for a Fortune 500 company in Chicago. I was really unhappy with my degree and job, so I decided to do a complete 180 and pursue a career in something I loved, travel and the outdoors. For the better part of the next decade, I guided foreigners on road trips, taking them mostly on camping tours of the US. The job was seasonal, so I would have four to six months off. During this time, I traveled. I took multi-month backpacking trips to Central America, Asia, and Africa. I traveled around Europe and Australia, and just before the pandemic, I went to Antarctica to work on the U.S. research base as a shuttle driver. Leading up to the pandemic, it was literally life on the road for me - I didn't have a residence for nearly a decade. Now, I'm back in Chicago semi-settled with an ID stating an address where I actually live. I primarily work with a band, driving them on tour, and guide road trips, most recently in Alaska.

Travel has obviously become a big part of who I am. It has informed my worldview, made me more curious and empathetic, and ultimately brought an incredible amount of joy to my life. Best summed up by one of my favorite authors, Paul Theroux: “The wish to travel seems to me characteristically human: the desire to move, to satisfy your curiosity or ease your fears, to change the circumstances of your life, to be a stranger, to make a friend, to experience an exotic landscape, to risk the unknown..””