Ryan Specialty: insurance broker profile

Overview

Ryan Specialty is a specialty insurance distributor. It sits between retail agents and brokers on one side and insurance carriers on the other, and it is mostly a business-to-business firm: a business owner does not usually buy from it directly. A retail agent who has a difficult or unusual risk sends the submission to a wholesale broker such as Ryan Specialty, which finds coverage, most often in the excess and surplus (E&S) market. The 2025 Form 10-K describes retail brokers as its customers.

For 2025 the company reported total revenue of $3,051.1 million, up 21.3% from $2,515.7 million in 2024, with organic revenue growth of 10.1%, net income of $214.2 million and adjusted EBITDAC of $966.7 million, in its February 12, 2026 results release. Its cover page lists a headquarters at 155 North Wacker Drive in Chicago and a main phone of 312-784-6001. Timothy W. Turner is chief executive. The 10-K reports more than 700 individuals directly responsible for revenue generation in wholesale brokerage and binding authority. We did not find a total headcount in the parts of the filing we reviewed.

History

According to its 10-K, Patrick G. Ryan founded Ryan Specialty in 2010. The firm was built from the start around specialty distribution. It grew through hiring specialist teams and buying wholesale, binding authority and managing general underwriter businesses. It became a public company in 2021 and trades on the New York Stock Exchange as RYAN. The company reports seven consecutive years of total revenue growth of 20% or more.

Services

The business has three specialties, reported by net commissions and fees for 2025:

• Wholesale Brokerage ($1,600.4 million, 53.4%): places property, casualty, professional and other lines for retail brokers, mainly with E&S insurers and Lloyd's syndicates. See wholesale brokers and surplus lines placement: how hard risks get insured and excess and surplus lines insurance explained.
• Binding Authority ($370.2 million, 12.4%): carriers give it authority to bind smaller specialty risks, so a retail agent can get a quote and a policy without a full submission process.
• Underwriting Management ($1,024.0 million, 34.2%): managing general underwriters and program administrators that underwrite on behalf of insurers; see Managing general agents (MGAs): what they are and what they mean for buyers and program business: niche insurance through program administrators.

Who it serves

Its direct customers are retail brokers and agents, and its supply side is insurance carriers that want specialty business. An owner of a restaurant, a contractor with a poor loss history, a business with coastal property or a company needing a one-off liability policy will normally learn about Ryan Specialty only because their own agent used it. That is how the wholesale market works for almost every wholesaler, including Amwins and CRC Group: you do not pick a wholesaler, your retail agent does. A buyer can still ask the agent which wholesaler and which insurers were approached, and the agent should be able to explain why. The wider picture of the retail-versus-wholesale split is in independent agent, broker, captive agent or direct? and Declined for coverage? Where hard-to-place businesses find insurance.

How it is paid

The 10-K says Ryan Specialty is compensated primarily through commissions and fees for the services it provides. As a wholesaler, it is typically paid a commission by the insurer on policies it places, shares part of that commission with the retail broker, and reports revenue on a net basis, after the retail broker's share. In underwriting management, it is also paid fees and commissions by the insurers it underwrites for. The filing lists a decrease in supplemental or contingent commissions as a risk, which indicates it receives them. We did not find a dollar amount for them in the sections we reviewed, so we do not state one. In practice, the retail commission a business owner's agent earns is shared with the wholesaler, and a surplus lines policy also carries state premium taxes and stamping fees; see surplus lines taxes, stamping fees and diligent search and how commercial insurance brokers get paid.

Recent deals

• Velocity Risk Underwriters: announced January 7, 2025 and completed February 3, 2025. Velocity is a Nashville-based managing general underwriter; the seller was funds managed by Oaktree Capital Management.
• J.M. Wilson: announced June 5, 2025 and completed July 1, 2025. The Michigan firm's operations became part of Ryan Specialty's binding authority business.
• Five acquisitions in 2025 overall: the company says its 2025 acquisitions had over $125 million of revenue in the twelve months before purchase, and that acquisitions added about 10 percentage points of total growth.
• Earlier deals: Innovisk Capital Partners (closed November 2024) and others such as AccuRisk, which we did not date from primary sources.
• Ownership: Onex sold its remaining shares, and a company release said board member Bobby Le Blanc would retire from the board effective February 11, 2026.

We did not find a Ryan Specialty acquisition announced in 2026 in the sources we reviewed. See private equity and the consolidation of insurance brokers for how this fits the wider acquisition wave.

Strengths and weaknesses

• Strengths: broad access to the E&S market; the ability to bind quickly through binding authority; a large book that gives it leverage with insurers; a public filer with detailed disclosure.
• Weaknesses: it is not a place a small business can go directly; organic growth slowed from 12.8% in 2024 to 10.1% in 2025 ; wholesale placement adds a layer of compensation and surplus lines taxes; and E&S pricing cycles affect results. Rates in the surplus market can soften when capacity returns.

How to contact Ryan Specialty