• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, 3 hours ago

Ryan Phelan, the email expert and educator, has stepped down as CEO of RPE Origin, a digital agency. 

“After nearly eight years, I’ve stepped away from my role as CEO of RPE Origin to begin new chapter,” Phelan wrote on LinkedIn. 

The circumstances were not known at deadline. The departure comes two years after Phelan  became CEO.

Phelan succeeded John Caldwell, who founded Red Pill Email in 2004. In 2020, Caldwell  joined forces with Phelan and his agency, Origin Email, to create RPE Origin in 2020. Caldwell has since died. 

Earlier in his career, Phelan worked at Acxiom, Responsys, Sears & Kmart, BlueHornet and infoUSA. He also ran marketing for Adestra’s U.S. business, and in that capacity put out a series of insightful surveys and papers. 

“Over the years, I worked closely with enterprise clients navigating data fragmentation, platform sprawl, and increasing pressure to prove outcomes that actually move the business, not vanity metrics, he wrote, describing his career. “All in the powerful email channel.” 

And now?

“I’m taking a short reset, then looking ahead,” Phelan wrote on LinkedIn. “I’m excited by opportunities where strategy, data infrastructure, and execution come together, where AI augments decision-making instead of replacing it, where accountability matters as much as ambition, and where what I’ve learned over the years can benefit marketers.” 

Phelan has often been featured as an expert in Email Insider. That will continue.