Title: President & CEO, Argonaut Group

First Career Choice: After law school, Mr. Watson aspired to be an energy investment banker, but the market crash in 1987 derailed those plans.

How He Got Into Insurance: “I grew up in the business,” Mr. Watson says, noting that his grandfather formed a life insurance agency, which his father later turned into a commercial broker.

His father–Mark Watson Jr.–later started an MGA and subsequently bought an insurance company, where Mark III worked during the summer and learned about reinsurance. The exposure helped him land his first job out of law school with Kroll & Tract, arbitrating retrocessional agreements.

The experience prompted Mr. Watson to suggest that his father, the CEO of Titan, reorganize his claims organization from a litigation perspective, where he would go on to serve as executive vice president until 1998.

Prior to joining Argonaut, he co-founded Aquila Capital Partners, a Texas-based venture capital firm.

What Keeps Him Up At Night? Argonaut's CEO doesn't mind talking about the early days when “bet-the-company” issues consumed his time. But now that the financial issues are smaller, million-dollar ones that could cost a quarter's worth of income at most, he says he's dreaming of ways to build on success–literally.

While the management team has many battle scars, tough times and sleepless nights are behind them. But “I dream about the company all the time,” he says.

Industry Role Models? “When you're not the number-one person, and you're one of those people who dreams about it, then you think about how you'd do it. So I used to copiously study everything Steven Way of HCC and Bill Berkley of W.R. Berkley did back in the 90s.” Mr. Way, an Argonaut shareholder, is now a mentor and friend.

Worth Noting: Argonaut is also involved in quota-share reinsurance deals with HCC–which, like Argonaut, has been an active acquirer (albeit in different specialty areas, such as professional liability, surety, accident & health, and MGA deals). HCC ranked as the 20th-largest E&S insurer based on 2005 E&S premiums according to A.M. Best.

W.R. Berkley, which struggled and restructured its regional operations back in 1999, is the sixth-largest E&S insurer.

Special Reports /

Who Is Mark Watson?

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