Ryan will oversee all major releases around the world.
EMI's catalogue division is home to seminal albums including David Bowie's 'Hunky Dory', The Beatles' 'Revolver' and 'Sgt Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band', and the Beach Boys' 'Pet Sounds'.
He will report to Ernesto Schmitt, EMI Music's president of catalogue and of EMI central marketing.
Schmitt said Ryan's expertise in "positioning high-growth media brands and consumer propositions" and his "strong track record in applying digital marketing across mobile, broadband and broadcast" would help the company provide consumers with "the music products and services they want to buy".
Ryan was most recently UK marketing director at Setanta Sports. From 2005 to 2007 he was director of brand marketing at AOL in the UK working on music properties including 'AOL Sessions' and the global Live8 event.
Previously Ryan spent three years as head of strategic marketing at Orange UK.
Today EMI reissued The Beatles back catalogue, available as individual albums or in two CD box sets -- The Beatles in Mono and The Beatles Box Set remastered in Stereo.