Ryan Specialty Announces Succession Plan: Pat Ryan to Exec Chair, Turner to Be CEO

Ryan Specialty Holdings, Inc. said company founder, chairman and chief executive Patrick G. Ryan will move to an executive chairman role and Timothy W. Turner will take over as will become CEO.

Turner is currently president of Ryan Specialty and chairman and CEO of RT Specialty.

As part of the plan, Jeremiah R. Bickham, chief financial officer, will become president and Janice M. Hamilton, chief accounting officer, will take over as CFO. The moves will take effect October 1.

Pat Ryan, 87, formed Chicago-based, specialty-focused wholesale brokerage and managing underwriter Ryan Specialty in 2010 after founding Aon Corp. in the mid-1980s and serving as its chairman and CEO for about four decades, retiring in 2008.

“With clear positive momentum underway and a deep roster of proven leaders, now is the right time to implement this carefully planned leadership succession,” Ryan said in a statement. “Tim joined me at Ryan Specialty at its founding in 2010 and has been an invaluable and integral partner in our success to date, marked by our ambitious M&A strategy, commitment to constant innovation, and ongoing investment in talent. The board and I believe he is the right leader to guide Ryan Specialty in its next chapter and expect this will be a seamless transition.”

Turner, who is credited with developing RT SPecialty into a top wholesale specialty-insurance distributor, will continue to serve on the board. Before joining Ryan Specialty in 2010, Turner was president of CRC Insurance Services, Inc. He joined the Crump Group in 1990 as a casualty broker and was named president of the Chicago office. He began his insurance career as a casualty broker with A.J. Renner & Associates in 1987.

Ryan Specialty said Bickman has served as CFO of Ryan Specialty since 2021. Before that, Bickman was treasurer of Ryan Specialty for nearly six years and was also head of corporate development. He joined Ryan Specialty in 2011 from KPMG, where he was a research analyst.

Hamilton has been chief accounting officer for Ryan Specialty since 2021 and was the company’s controller from 2018 to 2022. Prior to her time at Ryan Specialty, Hamilton was CFO for AmTrust International.

Ryan said the appointments “reflect the depth of talent we have deliberately built at Ryan Specialty” and he expects to be an “active member of the company’s executive team” as executive chairman.

Topics New Markets