The Spencer Educational Foundation Inc. on Tuesday honored Ryan Specialty Group L.L.C. founder Patrick Ryan and Zurich Insurance Group Ltd.’s Michael Kerner for their contributions to risk management and insurance education at the foundation’s fifth annual fundraising gala in New York.

This year, 50 undergraduate, graduate and pre-dissertation students were awarded a total $282,500 in scholarships to risk management and insurance programs at 19 universities nationwide, the New York-based foundation’s chairwoman, Peggy Accordino, said during the gala.

In interviews with Business Insurance prior to the award ceremony, Mr. Kerner and Mr. Ryan said the foundation’s scholarships are a critical asset for the insurance industry in its pursuit of new talent.

“In order to attract quality people into the industry, you need this kind of educational opportunity,” said Mr. Ryan, who prior to launching Chicago-based Ryan Specialty Group in 2010 was the founder and former CEO of Aon P.L.C.

“When people do come into the industry, if they get the right exposure and they get to develop a specialty, we tend to keep them,” Mr. Ryan said. “It’s when they come in and they don’t get properly directed and mentored, the industry is so diverse that they can flounder.”

Mr. Kerner, Zurich-based CEO of general insurance at Zurich, said the Spencer Educational Foundation has also been instrumental in promoting the fields of risk management and insurance as viable — even attractive — career options for young professionals, something he said the industry itself has historically failed to do effectively.

“We struggle as an industry with reputation, unfortunately,” Mr. Kerner said. “To this day, most people that get into the business, it wasn’t necessarily their childhood dream to be in insurance. We don’t do a good enough job as an industry in promoting the value that we bring to the economy and to business on the whole, or the exciting and fun careers you can have in the insurance space.”