Argo beefs up surety leadership with RLI, Markel & Zurich hires
Argo Group International Holdings has bolstered its surety business leadership with the hiring of a RLI Insurance veteran and other senior executives from Markel and Zurich.
Greg Chilson has been appointed as president of Argo Surety. Chilson has served as a strategic advisor to the business since May.
Chilson joins Argo from RLI Insurance Company where he led the surety business and held various roles during his 27-year tenure. He also served as controller at Underwriters Indemnity and in financial reporting at American General.
Chilson's appointment follows that of Rod Williams as head of contract surety and Paul Drakontaidis as the head of commercial surety.
Williams has extensive experience in underwriting, financial analysis, management, strategic planning, training and development. Most recently, he served as vice president and director, Enterprise Risk Management at Markel Surety. Prior to that, he held similar roles at Liberty Mutual Surety, Safeco and Aetna.
Drakontaidis has more than 17 years of experience in surety underwriting. Most recently, serving as senior regional vice president-commercial surety bonds at Zurich Surety. Prior to that, he held similar roles at Liberty Mutual Surety and Safeco.
Jessica Snyder, Argo’s president of US insurance, said: “Greg joins the company with a tremendous amount of industry experience as we look to build on Argo Surety’s track record as a very profitable, growth-oriented business. Over the past few months, Greg has assisted us as we worked to implement our strategy to evolve the business, including the evaluation of Argo’s in-force portfolio, reviewing underwriting guidelines and providing guidance on organisational design.
“He was very much involved in building this leadership team. The quality of the team and the positive momentum we are seeing in this business is a testament to Greg’s leadership and promising future potential for Argo Surety.”
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