Patrick Ryan

Inducted 2019

1937 -

The founder of dealership financing 

In 1962, Pat Ryan founded the first finance and insurance (F&I) department at Dick Fencl Chevrolet in suburban Chicago, selling insurance on behalf of Continental Casualty Company, now the primary subsidiary of CNA Financial. This idea forever changed how auto dealerships operate.  

Ryan grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and was first exposed to the automotive industry while working at his father’s Ford dealership. He later graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in Finance and Literature in 1959. 

After graduating, Ryan joined Penn Mutual’s Chicago office as an insurance agent. He soon had the idea of including finance and insurance departments in dealerships and founded the first one in 1962 at Dick Fencl Chevrolet in suburban Chicago. The rules he established for this new and valuable profit center ensured that it became a fundamental part of dealership operations. Ryan also developed a training program that groomed licensed agents for work in the nascent F&I departments that implemented his vision. 

“I put in a system where I had to see every customer,” Ryan said in a 2005 interview with Automotive News. “I offered them the dealership financing, whether they were going to go to a credit union, pay cash or go with their own bank. I asked if I could also sell them credit insurance.” 

Ryan went on to form his own insurance group, Pat Ryan & Associates (later named Ryan Insurance Group) in 1964. After 18 years of exponential growth, he expanded his firm into risk management services for commercial and industrial clients and merged with Combined International, which eventually become Aon Corporation. Aon went on to become a global leader in risk management, insurance, and other products. Pat Ryan served as the chairman and CEO of Aon for 41 years until his retirement. 

Said Keith Crain, chairman of Crain Communications Inc. and publisher of Automotive News: “Pat Ryan was a fixture in the automotive industry finance business for many decades and he taught most dealers the importance of F & l.”

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1937

Patrick Ryan was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin

1959

Graduated from Northwestern University’s School of Business with a degree in Finance and Literature

1959

Joined Penn Mutual as a life insurance agent upon graduation

1962

Created the first Finance & Insurance department at the Dick Fencl Chevrolet dealership, forever changing how dealerships operate

1964

Sold insurance policies at his father’s Ford dealership in Milwaukee

1964

Founded Pat Ryan & Associates, a brokerage and underwriting agency

1968

Ryan & Associates surpassed $15 million in premiums

1971

With $25 million in annual sales, Ryan & Associates went public

1982

Combined Insurance Company of America acquired the Ryan Insurance Company for $133 million; Patrick Ryan, then became president and CEO of Combined

1987

Combined International Corporation changed its name to Aon Corporation; Ryan was honored with the Horatio Alger Award

1988-2001

A period of expansion for Aon

2002

Inducted into the International Academy of Achievement in Ireland

2008

Inducted into the Academy of Arts and Sciences as well as the Insurance Society Hall of Fame

2010

Ryan Specialty Group founded

2019

Inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame in recognition of his role in the diversification of dealership revenue streams

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Class of 2019

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