As the exchange traded fund (ETF) industry continues to proliferate, many will try their hand at creating and backing new products and portfolios.

Ron Ryan is indispensable at creating some of the world’s most renowned bond indexes when he worked at Lehman Brothers but went out on his own in 1982 in a quest to create better mousetraps, according to Murray Coleman for Index Universe.

Ryan began with bond mutual funds, a benchmark of a range in maturities that caught on quickly, with the idea that money managers could have a pre-fabricated bond ladder. His latest endeavor was with Ameristock which focused on U.S. Treasuries. The provider has recently shut his latest ETFs down, but this will not dissuade Ryan.

And while those funds have closed, there’s still the PowerShares 1-30 Year Laddered Treasury Portfolio (PLW), which has $47.5 million in assets.

Ryan stands behind ETFs, as the built-in flexibility, transparency and low-cost are part of the reason more sophisticated and investor-focused indexes will keep coming out, and he will continue to be part of this wave.

Right now, he’s working on a longer-term maturity SRI bond index. His firm, Ryan ALM Inc., also creates custom indexes for institutional clients.

Is he soured on ETFs? Not a bit. We look forward to seeing what his next move will be.

Tags: PLW, Treasury Bonds