TRAILBLAZER
PATRICK RYAN :
Transforming the insurance industry
JOB TITLE : CEO COMPANY : AON CORPORATION
American insurance billionaire , Jack Ryan , currently serves as CEO of the Chicago-based wholesale brokerage and specialty insurer , Ryan Specialty Group . Despite being a leading figure in the US insurance scene for several decades , Ryan ’ s early life reveals a story of hard work and determination , as well as a good amount of initiative , which helped him reach his goal .
The son of an Irish-American father who ran a Ford dealership in suburban Milwaukee , Ryan was no stranger to hard graft . Reports suggest that as soon as he could , he worked to pay his way , spending his high school and college summers shoveling concrete to help build Milwaukee ' s central freeway system .
Later on , his entrepreneurial spirit carried him through the final years of education as anecdotes state that during his senior year , he earned $ 8,000 ( a massive sum at that time ) selling personalised scrapbooks to dorm residents .
Ryan graduated in 1959 from Northwestern University with a bachelor ' s degree in finance and literature and immediately found work in the insurance business . He joined Penn Mutual ' s Chicago office as a life insurance agent , and by 1962 , he had founded the first Finance and Insurance ( F & I ) department at Dick Fencl Chevrolet in suburban Chicago .
16 January 2022