David J. Ryder
David J. Ryder (born October 14, 1955) is an American government official. He was the Director of the United States Mint from 1992 to 1993, and returned to the position from 2018-2021. Early life and education. David J. Ryder was born in Billings, Montana on October 14, 1955. Raised in Boise, Idaho, he attended Boise State University. Career. Ryder worked for the United States Department of Commerce as deputy commissioner general of the U.S. Pavilion at the 1984 Louisiana World Exposition 1983–84, and then commissioner general 1984–85. From 1985 to 1986, he worked in the Office  of the Vice President of the United States as Director of Advance. He was director of operations for TCOM Systems, Inc. from 1986 to 1988. He was director of operations of the 1988 Republican National Convention. After George H. W. Bush won the 1988 U.S. presidential election, Ryder was director of management and operations for Bush's transition team. From 1989 to 1990, he was Deputy Chief of Staff of the Office of the Vice President of the United States. From 1990 to 1991, he was Deputy Treasurer of the United States. In 1991, President Bush nominated Ryder to be  Director of the United States Mint and he subsequently held this office from September 1992 to November 1993 via a recess appointment. Ryder joined Secure Products, a corporate venture “spin-off” of the Sarnoff Corporation, launched in 1994. In 2007 the Honeywell Corporation acquired Secure Products where Ryder held the position of Global Business Development Manager and Managing Director of Currency for Honeywell Authentication Technologies. Both Secure Products and Honeywell developed and launched highly advanced anti-counterfeiting systems for both manual and high-speed authentication of currency, passports, bank checks, and other commercial products. Ryder worked closely with Honeywell's  technical team in the development and issuance of 18 United States patents. In 2017, Ryder was again nominated as Director of the United States Mint by President Donald Trump and confirmed by a voice vote on March 21, 2018. In 2021, Ryder was named one of Coin World's Most Influential People in Numismatics (1960-2020). Ryder announced on September 24, 2021 that he would resign as Mint director, effective October 1. Controversy. During Ryder's second tenure as Mint director, the Mint has generated substantial controversy among coin collectors for its creation and selling of "artificial rarity" coins, or  coins created with strict mintage limits. In November 2019, the Mint sold an Enhanced Reverse Proof 2019-S Silver Eagle, which sold out within 20 minutes of release. In November 2020, the Mint sold special 75th Anniversary of World War II Silver Eagle and Gold Eagle proof coins, with mintage limits of 75,000 and 1,945 coins, respectively. The sale of both coins generated fierce backlash from Mint customers and collectors. The Mint attracted further negative publicity after releasing the commemorative 2021 100th anniversary Morgan and Peace dollars. The available coins, sold on May 24, 2021 sold out within minutes, and  collectors' anger at the quick sellout caused the Mint to postpone releasing the remaining dollars in the program from June 1 and 7 until August 3 and 10.