HOUSTON, Texas – January 10, 2017 – Argo Surety, member of Argo Group International Holdings, Ltd. (NASDAQ: AGII), an international underwriter of specialty insurance and reinsurance products, today announced the appointment of David M. Layman as vice president and chief underwriting officer (CUO) of Contract Surety. In this newly created role, Layman will be responsible for managing the company’s contract surety portfolio, establishing contract surety underwriting guidelines, and recruiting and staffing a contract underwriting team made up of professionals in several strategic cities in the U.S. He will begin in this role effective immediately and will report directly to Joshua Betz, Argo Surety President.
“As we continue to expand our surety business, David is joining Argo Surety at the perfect time. He has an excellent track record as a CUO for contract surety, and his vision and entrepreneurial spirit will fit right into our culture,” said Betz. “David has a great reputation. He is a leader who will be involved in, and contribute to, every aspect of the growth and expansion into our contract surety segment. We are very excited to have David join us, and appreciate his long-term perspective on growing a portfolio.”
Layman comes to Argo Surety with almost three decades of surety experience in underwriting and managing contract surety portfolios, as well as involvement on the agency side of the business. Previously, Layman served as president and founder of Layman Surety Services, a contract surety agency based in San Antonio, Texas. Prior to founding Layman Surety Services, he served as vice president – senior manager, Contract Surety at NAS Surety/Swiss Re from 2002 to 2014. Preceding his time at NAS Surety/Swiss Re, he worked at Reliance Surety.
“I’m very excited and honored to be able to bring my relationships and experience to an amazing leadership team at Argo Surety,” said Layman. “I look forward to playing a significant role in the continued growth of the Argo Surety brand and positioning the company for the future. Argo Surety has a great underwriting culture that will provide the foundation for further expansion into contract surety. My goal over the next 10 years is to build a contract operation that is comparable to the highly successful commercial surety operation that is in existence today.”
Layman graduated from University of Florida with a degree in accounting.
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ABOUT ARGO SURETY
Argo Surety is a top 20 U.S. based surety operation, and subsidiary of Argo Group (AGII). Argo Surety writes on Argonaut Insurance Company (AIC) paper, which is A (Excellent) by A.M. Best. Argo Surety has offices in Seattle, Denver, Dallas, Houston, Chicago, Hamilton, NJ & Rockwood, PA. Argo Surety operates in all 50 states, and is also licensed for surety in the EU and Brazil. It also has fronting relationships in Canada, Mexico, Guam, Puerto Rico and Italy. For more information on Argo Surety, please visit our web site http://www.argolimited.com/argo-surety/.
ABOUT ARGO GROUP INTERNATIONAL HOLDINGS, LTD
Argo Group International Holdings, Ltd. (NASDAQ: AGII) is an international underwriter of specialty insurance and reinsurance products in the property and casualty market. Argo Group offers a full line of products and services designed to meet the unique coverage and claims handling needs of businesses in four primary segments: Excess & Surplus Lines, Commercial Specialty, International Specialty and Syndicate 1200. Argo Group’s insurance subsidiaries are A. M. Best-rated ‘A’ (Excellent) (third highest rating out of 16 rating classifications) with a stable outlook, and Argo’s U.S. insurance subsidiaries are Standard and Poor’s-rated ‘A-‘ (Strong) with a stable outlook. More information on Argo Group and its subsidiaries is available at www.argolimited.com.
For media enquiries, please contact:
Ashley Heline
Argo Group Media Relations
Tel +1 (210) 366 5613
