In founding the first finance and insurance office in 1962, Pat Ryan fundamentally changed how car dealerships operate. At Dick Fencl Chevrolet in suburban Chicago, Ryan created a process in which a designated dealership employee sold credit life insurance to customers. He then brought F&I departments to surrounding dealerships by hiring his own employees.
In 1964, he founded Pat Ryan & Associates, an underwriting agency specializing in distributing those products to auto retailers. Ryan also established a training program to funnel agents into the F&I departments he created.
His company evolved to became Aon Corp., a global insurance and reinsurance brokerage firm. Ryan retired as CEO of Aon in 2005.