Mark E. Watson III Mark Watson joined the Board of Directors of Argo Group’s predecessor company, Argonaut Group, in 1999 and has served as President and CEO since 2000. Prior to joining Argonaut, Mr. Watson was one of two founding partners of Aquila Capital Partners, a Texas-based venture capital firm focused on technology and life science related companies. Before founding Aquila, Mr. Watson was an Executive Vice President and member of the Board of Directors of Titan Holding Inc., a NYSE-listed property and casualty insurance group, from 1992 until its acquisition in 1997 by USF&G Corporation. From 1989 to 1991 he was an Associate Attorney with Kroll & Tract, a New York law firm focusing on international financial services clientele. In 1989 Mr. Watson was a Legislative Aide to Texas State Senator Donald Henderson, where he helped draft legislation creating the first college savings bond program in the state as well as the first mandatory alternative fuels bill, both of which were enacted into law.
Mr. Watson graduated with a B.B.A. from Southern Methodist University and a J.D. from the University of Texas, School of Law. Mr. Watson is an avid climber and yachtsman, who has climbed on several continents and won several major regattas in the United States. Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer Stuart Boyne joined Argo Group to lead the global human resources function in 2015. He came to Argo from Cooper Gay Swett and Crawford, where he served as the Global Human Resources Officer. Prior to that, Mr. Boyne was with Endurance Specialty Holdings, where he served as Senior Vice President, Global Head of Human Resources Shared Services, responsible for multiple HR functions including compensation, benefits, technology and recruiting. Mr. Boyne has more than 20 years’ experience in human resources, management and leadership, having commenced his career as an officer in the British Army specializing in military communications. He served on numerous operational tours in Bosnia and Kosovo and retired as a Major in 2003.
Mr. Boyne received a bachelor’s degree in Human Geography from Middlesex University. Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Jay Bullock joined Argo Group in 2008 from Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc., where he was Senior Managing Director and Head of Bear Stearns’ Insurance Investment Banking Group. Focusing on the property and casualty and life insurance sector for more than 20 years, he advised companies on acquisitions, mergers and sales, as well as all forms of public and private financings and restructurings. While at Bear Stearns, Mr. Bullock was an advisor to Argonaut Group, Argo Group’s predecessor, on a number of transactions. Prior to joining Bear Stearns in 2000, Mr. Bullock was a Managing Director at First Union Securities. He is an honors graduate of Southern Methodist University and received his MBA from the McColl School of Business at Queens College in Charlotte, North Carolina. Mr. Bullock also holds the designation of Certified Public Accountant.
Senior Vice President and Chief Actuary Robert “Bob” Katzman joined Argo Group in 2016 from AIG Inc., where he was the Head of Global Casualty Pricing and Analytics. There he was a catalyst for transforming the casualty pricing operation by blending predictive analytics and traditional actuarial techniques to refine and enhance pricing models. Throughout his nearly 30 years of industry experience, Mr. Katzman has held senior roles at Travelers, Crum & Forster and Reliance National, where he led reserving, pricing, M&A, reinsurance and ERM functions. Mr. Katzman is a Fellow of the Casualty Actuarial Society and holds a bachelor’s of science degree in Math and Psychology from Union College. Head of International Business Jose A. Hernandez joined Argo Group in 2016 as Head of International Business. Prior to joining Argo Group, Mr. Hernandez most recently served as president and chief executive officer of AIG’s Asia Pacific region. Mr. Hernandez spent more than 20 years with AIG in a number of senior leadership roles in both the consumer and commercial segments.
He has expertise in field operations, distribution, underwriting, claims, strategic planning and management. Mr. Hernandez has a bachelor of science degree in marketing and management from Bentley University and a master in business administration from the College of Insurance in New York. Alex Hindson joined Argo Group as the Chief Risk Officer in 2015. Previously he was the Chief Risk Officer of Amlin AG, the Swiss reinsurance operation of Amlin PLC, where he was responsible for the risk, compliance and legal functions across the Bermuda branch and Zurich operation. He had previously been the Head of Group Risk of Amlin PLC, responsible for the implementation of an enterprise risk management framework across the company in preparation for Solvency II. Before this, Mr. Hindson was Head of Enterprise Risk Management at Aon Global Risk Consulting, where he was responsible for the consulting activities for ERM across EMEA. He was originally a chemical engineer and worked in a variety of roles at AstraZeneca, including engineering, manufacturing and risk management.
Mr. Hindson is a Fellow and past Chairman of the Institute of Risk Management. He is interested in history, genealogy and archery. Executive Vice President, Strategy & Business Development Nigel Mortimer is responsible for Argo Group’s international insurance operations (with the exception of Lloyd’s Syndicate 1200), having successfully built the Group’s insurance operations in Bermuda, Brazil, Continental Europe and Dubai. In addition, he is Director of Group Product Development and is charged with leading innovative thinking across the Group as well as identifying profitable product line opportunities to grow our businesses in the U.S. and internationally. Prior to joining Argo, Mr. Mortimer spent a number of years at XL’s Bermuda operations as Underwriting Manager of their Casualty operations and SVP Director of Product Development focused on driving profitable growth throughout XL’s global network. Currently based in Bermuda, Mr. Mortimer has lived and worked in New York, London and Australia for companies such as Chubb Corporation, Zurich International and Zurich Re. Mr. Mortimer earned an honors degree in economics from the University of Hertfordshire in England and has successfully completed several advanced management courses at Harvard, Wharton and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Senior Vice President and Chief Investment Officer As Senior Vice President and Chief Investment Officer, Mark Rose oversees the company’s investment strategy. Prior to joining Argo Group in 2013, Mr. Rose was a Senior Credit Analyst at RBC Capital Markets and has held similar roles at Deephaven Capital Management, Goldman Sachs & Co. and Credit Suisse First Boston. He has a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and is a CFA® charterholder. Group Chief Underwriting Officer Axel Schmidt joined Argo Group in 2014 as Group Chief Underwriting Officer. He came to Argo from Aviva, where he served as Chief Underwriting Officer for the company’s UK/Ireland business across personal, commercial and corporate/specialty lines. Prior to joining Aviva, Mr. Schmidt spent 20 years in international business at Zurich Insurance Group, where he held a number of senior underwriting and management positions including Deputy Chief Executive Officer/CUO for corporate business in Europe/UK and Underwriting Director for global corporate business.