| **Exhibit 31.1: Certification of Principal Executive Officer Pursuant  to Section 302** |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| ** **                                                                              | **of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002** |

 

Certification ofPrincipal Executive OfficerPursuant to Rule 13a – 14(a)Under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934

 

I, R. Chad Dreier,certify that:

1.                                       Ihave reviewed this Annual Report on Form 10-K of The Ryland Group, Inc. (the“Company”);

2.                                       Basedon my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue statement of amaterial fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make the statementsmade, in light of the circumstances under which such statements were made, notmisleading with respect to the period covered by this report; 

3.                                       Basedon my knowledge, the financialstatements, and other financialinformation included in this report, fairly present in all material respectsthe financial condition, resultsof operations and cash flows of the Company as of, and for, the periodspresented in this report; 

4.                                       TheCompany’s other certifying officerand I are responsible for establishing and maintaining disclosure controls andprocedures (as defined inExchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) and internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(f)and 15d-15(f)) for the Company and have:

a)                                      Designedsuch disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such disclosure controls andprocedures to be designed under our supervision, to ensure that materialinformation relating to the Company, including its consolidated subsidiaries,is made known to us by others within those entities, particularly during theperiod in which this report is being prepared;

b)                                     Designedsuch internal control over financialreporting, or caused such internal control over financial reporting to be designed under our supervision, toprovide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and thepreparation of financialstatements for external purposes in accordance with generally acceptedaccounting principles;

c)                                      Evaluatedthe effectiveness of the Company’s disclosure controls and procedures andpresented in this report our conclusions about the effectiveness of thedisclosure controls and procedures, as of the end of the period covered by thisreport based on such evaluation; and

d)                                     Disclosedin this report any change in the Company’s internal control over financial reporting that occurredduring the Company’s most recent fiscalquarter that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materiallyaffect, the Company’s internal control over financial reporting; and

5.                                       TheCompany’s other certifying officerand I have disclosed, based on our most recent evaluation of internal controlover financial reporting, to theCompany’s auditors and the audit committee of the Company’s board of directors(or persons performing the equivalent functions):

a)                                      Allsignificant deficiencies and material weaknesses inthe design or operation of internal control over financial reporting which are reasonably likely to adverselyaffect the Company’s ability to record, process, summarize and report financial information; and

b)                                     Anyfraud, whether or not material, that involves management or other employees whohave a significant role in theCompany’s internal control over financialreporting.
| *Date:  February 28, 2007* | ***/s/ R. Chad Dreier***   |
|----------------------------|----------------------------|
|                       | R. Chad Dreier             |
|                       | *Chairman,  President and* |
|                       | *Chief  Executive Officer* |

 

----