Ryan Packer ’04 met the second love of his life at University of Wisconsin Law School Reunion.
His first love? The Green Bay Packers. Just like millions of other kids who grew up in Wisconsin with games “always on.” The team is a unifying fabric for so many families and communities.
His second? Marie Packer, who tagged along to the Karaoke Kid in Madison with her cousin Sarah Lawson ’04 for the UW Law Reunion.
“September 21, 2014. I will never forget the day we met,” he recalled.
The thunderbolt struck. And the rest is history.
Packer, then known as Holtan-Murphy, married Marie in a green-and-gold suit in 2017 (in Chicago, of all places!) and took her last name because it was just so fitting.
The Wauwatosa native has become famous for his football-inspired surname change. And for being a finalist for the Packers Fan Hall of Fame in 2023.
While his enthusiasm for the team is well-known, some may be unaware of his robust law career. In fact, he’s served as senior legal counsel and director, Capital Markets, at BMO Financial Group for the past six years.
The double Badger majored in sociology and was drawn to law as an extension of his interest in how institutions influence or encourage people’s behaviors.
Packer loved his UW Law experience.
“The breadth of the education that I got was incredible,” he said. “I took so many interesting courses — international law, trademarks, Latin American law — in addition to the basics like con law and torts. I learned a lot. The professors were terrific.”
He added that the experience was “great preparation for life,” teaching him to find camaraderie with people from various backgrounds and to think like a lawyer and simply how to navigate the world.
Upon graduation, Packer did not know what concentration he wanted to focus on in law, but he knew where: New York City. Thanks to fellow grad Nate Rice ’04, he found his home in finance law at Morgan Stanley, where he worked for over 10 years.
Packer’s start as a financing legal documentation negotiator opened “a lot of doors.” He moved to London for vice president and executive director roles for the company’s team in Europe.
Even though he has enjoyed the global nature of his career, which has taken him from Budapest to Hong Kong, he is a “Midwest guy at heart.” After a short stint in a regulatory role brought him to the Windy City, he started his current role at BMO in 2019 and then moved to Milwaukee in 2021 to be closer to family.
“The breadth of the education that I got [at UW Law] was incredible.” – Ryan Packer ’04
Packer still sees sociology and law tied together in his career focus of institutional investing with an international focus.
“Whenever I go past a construction site, I can say I think we financed that,” he said. “I had a tiny part in bringing that to life. Sometimes it can seem like numbers on a page, but you can see the threads of how a contract I am negotiating this afternoon in a year’s time will be a factory somewhere.”
Back to the Pack
When asked what his prediction was for this year’s Green Bay season, he had two words: “Super Bowl.” Not surprising. He optimistically buys plane tickets to the big game’s city every year in advance, just in case. And he often flies to cities like Denver and Las Vegas during the regular season to catch away games.
Just don’t let him travel outside the U.S. for games. He was in Brazil for the 2024 season opener that saw quarterback Jordan Love injured and a loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. And he watched the team fall to the New York Giants in London three years ago.
“I’m not allowed to go to any more international games,” he joked.