
Ryley Thiessen
Ryley Thiessen is the President of Ecosign, responsible for the company’s daily operations, business development, client relations and resort design. A graduate of the University of Guelph with a Bachelor Degree (Honours) in Landscape Architecture and a Diploma (Honours) of Landscape Architectural Technology, Ryley’s tenure with Ecosign began as a junior resort planner in 2002. Ryley grew up on a farm in Saskatchewan and called the provinces of Alberta and Ontario home before joining Ecosign’s head office in Whistler in 2002.
Over the past two decades, his most proud achievements to date have been relocating to Austria to grow the company’s European team; leading the resort design of three of the fastest growing and most successful resorts in the world (Wanda Changbaishan, China, Bukovel, Ukraine, and Gudauri, Georgia); and becoming President of Ecosign where he leads a dynamic, creative team of talented professionals.
Ryley has personally worked on over 150 Master Plans in 32 countries worldwide including Canada, the United States, China, Japan, South Korea, Chile, Argentina, Russia, Mexico, Serbia, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Austria, Switzerland, Finland, Norway, France, Greece, Italy and Armenia. He has worked with various public agencies including all levels of government with the preparation of feasibility studies and regional master plans, including the study of entire countries to help to identify optimal locations for the development of four season resorts.
Ryley has been the recipient of numerous awards, recognizing his outstanding achievements and contribution to our industry: Alberta Association of Landscape Architects Achievement Award (2000), American Society of Landscape Architecture Merit and Design Award (2002), Northern Alberta Institute of Technology Alumni Award (2009), and the Horizons Achievement Award (2015). When volunteering his time, Ryley contributes his design and development expertise to support international projects as well as local initiatives here in Whistler including a term with the Whistler Advisory Design Panel from 2016 - 2018.
Today, his activities of choice include spending time at the lake, golfing, wake surfing, biking, camping, skiing and snowboarding.