News Room

June 6, 2001

Assurant Group Announces Promotions And New Executive Assignments

Atlanta/Miami: Assurant Group, the leading affinity marketer of specialty insurance, extended service contracts and membership programs, today announced the promotion of three members of its top management team to executive vice president and new responsibilities for three other senior executives.

Promoted to executive vice president were Jerome Atkinson, who also was named general counsel and chief compliance officer; Craig Lemasters, who becomes chief marketing officer; and Kathryn Stoddard, who heads human resources, development and corporate services. Lemasters and Stoddard reside in Atlanta. Atkinson, who currently resides in New Jersey, will relocate to Atlanta.

Assuming new or additional responsibilities are Kevin Klotz, John B. Owen and Floyd C. Denison, who are currently executive vice presidents. Klotz, Owen and Denison all reside in Miami.

Klotz moves from Sales and Marketing to chief financial officer and chief operating officer. He also will oversee the corporate secretary function and continue to have management responsibility for American Reliable Insurance Company, a member company headquartered in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Owen continues as chief information officer while assuming additional management responsibility for Consumer Marketing Services, which includes Assurant’s call centers, and two operating companies, Federal Warranty Service Corp., an extended service contract provider in Tampa, Fla., and Safeware, The Insurance Agency, Inc., a computer insurance provider in Columbus, Ohio.

Denison remains on the Executive Board with multiple strategic responsibilities, including Assurant’s participation in a new strategic business venture. He also will play a special advisory role on mergers and acquisitions and investment portfolio management and will oversee winding down a discontinued business.

Assurant President Bruce Camacho announced the promotions and new executive assignments. All six executives serve on the company’s eight-member Executive Board with Camacho and Assurant Chief Executive Officer Robert W. Pollock.

Assurant also announced that Edwin L. Harper, executive vice president, operations, is joining Fortis, Inc., the company’s U.S. parent, as senior vice president, public affairs/government relations. In this new role, Harper, who will continue to reside in Miami, Fla., will be responsible for managing public policy strategy for Fortis companies in the United States at both the federal and state level.

About Jerome Atkinson, Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer

Atkinson joins Assurant Group from Fortis, Inc., where he has served as senior vice president and general counsel since 1996. In addition to legal, he will be responsible for government relations, compliance, licensing, filings and forms administration, regulatory administration and privacy. Atkinson has over 20 years experience in legal advisory services in the credit insurance industry, including five years as general counsel and corporate secretary for Atlanta-based American Security Group, which is now part of Assurant. He earned his law degree from the University of Michigan Law School and has a bachelor’s degree from Georgia Institute of Technology.

About Floyd C. Denison, Executive Vice President

Denison has served as executive vice president and chief financial officer of Assurant since its formation in August 1999. He joined American Bankers Insurance Group, Inc., now a part of Assurant, in 1977 and served as executive vice president-finance before it became part of Assurant. He has a bachelor’s degree from Siena College, a master's degree from St. John’s University and a master’s in business administration from Bernard Baruch College. He is a resident of Miami, Fla.

About Kevin Klotz, Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer

Klotz, a resident of Miami, Fla., moves to his new assignment from executive vice president, sales and marketing, which he has held since August 2000. His new responsibilities include operations, which encompasses claims, premium processing, hazard insurance tracking and placement and Voyager Group, Inc. operations; finance, including actuarial, accounting, financial reporting and tax; the corporate secretary function; and American Reliable. Klotz has held various management positions with increasing responsibility during his 14 years with Assurant and its predecessor companies in Miami. He has a master’s degree in accounting from the University of Miami.

About Craig Lemasters, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer

Lemasters, of Atlanta, Ga., rejoined Assurant in August 2000 as a group senior vice president and head of the international development channel. He was a channel executive and sales manager for American Bankers Insurance Group, inc. (now part of Assurant) for 11 years before joining Reliance Integramark, Alpharetta, Ga., in 1998. In his new position, Lemasters will have management responsibility for all business channels, international, sales development and training, channel development and support services and United Services Protection Corp., an auto warranty company. Lemasters has a bachelor’s degree in economics and business from Furman University and a master’s in business administration from Barry University.

About John B. Owen, Executive Vice President, Chief Information Officer and Consumer Marketing Services

Owen, of Miami, Fla., joined Fortis, Inc. as senior vice president, information technology in November 1998. In August 2000, he became chief information officer of Assurant, overseeing its technology needs, including telecommunications, data center services and application development. His new assignment includes his current information technology responsibilities as well as overall management of Consumer Marketing Services and two member companies, Federal Warranty Services Corp., and Safeware, The Insurance Agency, Inc. Owen has a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering from Auburn University.

About Kathryn Stoddard, Executive Vice President, Human Resources and Development

Stoddard, of Atlanta, Ga., joined Assurant in January 2001 from Fortis, Inc., where she had headed executive development programs since 1994. Her areas of responsibility include human resources, organizational development, training and corporate services. Stoddard began her career with Fortis in 1983 in the marketing department of a former Atlanta affiliate. She later transferred to Fortis Family, a preneed insurance company in Atlanta, where she served as vice president of sales support and vice president and strategic business unit manager. She has a bachelor’s degree in journalism and communications from the University of Florida and a master’s in business administration from Georgia State University.

Headquartered in Atlanta and Miami, Assurant Group is an affinity marketing company that partners with financial institutions, auto dealers, retailers, utilities and others to leverage their relationships with consumers to distribute products and services using its technology, processing and marketing capabilities. Its member companies are leading providers of specialty insurance, extended service contracts and membership programs. Assurant has more than 4,800 employees and operations in 11 states, Argentina, Canada, Denmark, Ireland, Panama, Puerto Rico and the United Kingdom.

Assurant is part of Fortis, an international financial services provider active in the fields of insurance, banking and investment. At yearend 2000, Fortis had total assets of more than $410 billion. Fortis ranks 26th on the Fortune "Global 500" list and 33rd on the Forbes "World Super 50" (July 24, 2000). Fortis’ listed companies are Fortis (B) of Belgium and Fortis (NL) of the Netherlands.

Assurant Group is a service mark of Fortis, Inc.
Financial information is as of December 31, 2000.

Media contact

James A. Sykes
Director, Corporate Communications
Assurant Solutions
260 Interstate N. Circle, SE
Atlanta, Ga. 30339-2111
Telephone: 770.763.1015
FAX: 770.859.4325
E-mail: james.sykes@assurant.com