Argo Surety Hires James Bluzard, AFSB for Contract Surety Unit

Argo Surety, a member of Argo Group International Holdings, Ltd. (NASDAQ: AGII), an international underwriter of specialty insurance and reinsurance products, today announced the appointment of James Bluzard as central region vice president for Contract Surety. In this role, Bluzard is responsible for building out local office teams and supervision of underwriting and related activities. He will begin immediately and will report directly to David Layman, chief underwriting officer, Argo Surety.

“We are very excited to add James to our new Contract Surety operation. He is highly regarded in the Texas surety community and his underwriting expertise and agency relationships will be great assets for Argo Surety,” said Layman. “This is the critical building block of our contract surety launch and in the development of this exciting new era for Argo Surety.” 

Bluzard brings 17 years of experience in contract surety underwriting and is the newest addition to the nascent Contract Surety operation for Argo Surety. He comes to Argo from Liberty Mutual Surety, where he spent 13 years, most recently as contract bond manager responsible for Houston. 

Bluzard graduated from Texas A&M University with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance. He holds the Associate in Fidelity and Surety Bonding (AFSB) industry designation. 

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 atwww.argolimited.com.

For media enquiries, please contact:

Ashley Heline
Argo Group Media Relations
+1 (210) 366 5613
ashley.heline@argogroupus.com