Michael Blackshear serves as senior vice president, chief compliance and privacy officer for Ryan Specialty with responsibilities for maintaining and growing an effective compliance and regulatory risk framework.  In 2022, Michael assumed additional responsibilities in creating, building, and leading the organization’s Culture & Inclusion function to promote an Inclusive and Belonging environment at the firm, along with building strong alliances within the insurance industry and within those communities that the organization has a footprint. Michael currently serves on Ryan Specialty’s executive management team.   Ryan Specialty is an international specialty insurance organization that provides solutions to brokers, agents and insurance carriers with operations in North America, the United Kingdom, Europe, and Asia.   Ryan Specialty was founded in 2010 by Patrick G. Ryan, former chairman of Aon Corporation, and includes a wholesale brokerage operation (RT Specialty) and a collection of managing general underwriting companies within Ryan Specialty Underwriting Managers

Michael has over thirty (30) years of financial service and executive experience in the areas of ethics, compliance, and risk management. Prior to joining Ryan Specialty, he was the North America chief compliance officer for Chubb Insurance Group, responsible for developing and maintaining their North American (NA) compliance program. He was primarily responsible for the NA compliance framework integration and transformation during the ACE/Chubb merger. Before his time with Chubb, he held various leadership roles with Marsh & McLennan Companies, focusing on compliance and government affairs. Before joining Marsh, he held compliance and risk management advisory roles for KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers.   He began his insurance career as an underwriter for Continental Insurance Company (CNA) and then as a casualty broker with Alexander & Alexander Insurance Brokerage Firm (Aon).

In 2022 and 2024, Michael was named and recognized by Savoy magazine as one of the most Influential Executives in Corporate America. Savoy magazine is a leading national publication covering African American lifestyle in fashion, business, sports, and entertainment. In 2023, Michael was recognized by the Insurance Brokers Association of New York for the Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Awards of Excellence.  He was also recognized in Insurance Business America’s (IBA) Global 100, for 2021, as an influential insurance professional making waves and positive change in the insurance industry worldwide. In 2020, he was named in IBA Hot 100 insurance practitioners that shaped, transformed, and pushed the insurance industry forward with his dedication, mentorship, and vision. Also in 2020, IBA recognized Michael as a change agent in leading efforts to create an environment to ensure that the doors at all levels of the insurance industry are open wide for people of all races, ethnicities, genders, nationalities, orientations, and ages. Michael also has been honored by both Syracuse University, receiving the Chancellor’s Citation, in recognition of his significant career and civic achievements, and by Fordham’s Black Law Student Association, receiving the annual Ruth Whitehead Whaley Award for being a prominent alumnus in the field of compliance.

Michael serves on several advisory boards and was elected to the Board of Directors of the Excess Line Association of New York (ELANY) in 2021, where he currently serves as ELANY’s Immediate Past Chairman.  ELANY is a nonprofit industry advisory association charged with the duty to facilitate and encourage compliance with the surplus lines insurance laws of New York State.  He is also a member of Syracuse University Board of Trustees and serves on the Audit and Risk, and Enrollment & the Student Experience Committees. 

Michael obtained a B.S. in finance from Syracuse University’s Martin J. Whitman School of Management, an MBA from St. John’s University, Maurice R. Greenberg School of Risk Management, Insurance, and Actuarial Science, and a Juris Doctorate from Fordham Law School.  He also completed a certification in managing ethics in organizations from Bentley College, a certification at Loyola University Chicago at the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Leadership Institute, and recently completed a certification in Artificial Intelligence and Analytics at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.  

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