Spencer Gala Honorees Michael Kerner and Patrick Ryan with Spencer Scholar Lakenya Young

At its recent annual gala, the Spencer Educational Foundation raised a record $870,000 from leaders of the risk management industry. The dinner also drew its largest crowd yet to honor Zurich’s Michael Kerner and Ryan Specialty Group’s Patrick Ryan.

Kerner lauded the foundation while encouraging colleagues in the insurance industry to embrace and prioritize the role of younger entrants to the field. “We struggle as an industry with reputation, unfortunately,” he said. “To this day, for 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.”

Dedicated to aiding future risk managers, the Spencer Educational Foundation awards scholarships in risk management and insurance, runs student internship programs and issues grants to facilitate risk management course development at schools across the country. As of this year, according to Chairwoman Peggy Accordino, the foundation has awarded over $5 million to students.

Applications for 2014 Spencer Scholars, internships, and the Risk Manager in Residence program are now live, with scholarship applications due by January 31. Applications for employers to participate in the student internship program are also available, with a deadline of February 14.