Increasing profitability is the surest way for Argo Group to secure the future of the company and thereby secure the future of its shareholders, employees and policyholders. Will Chen, chief financial officer for U.S. Operations, is perfectly positioned to speak about Argo’s efforts to propel profitability to greater heights.
Will affirms that Argo has made determined data-driven decisions to increase the profitability of its U.S. Operations. Like most successful endeavors in business and indeed life, profitability is a team effort. It requires underwriters, actuaries, as well as personnel from IT, finance, operations and reinsurance all having a seat at the table and bringing their individual perspectives to bear.
Despite their individual specialties, the traits that unite these professionals in pursuing profit are communication, execution and a sense of urgency – communication with the members of their respective teams, execution to transform plans for profitability into realities, and a sense of urgency that recognizes the demands of modern business.
“There are times when we’ve had to make tough calls on certain businesses, but if you were to evaluate the results of U.S. Operations since 2013, you would agree we’ve built a sustainable and profitable business,” says Will. “We’ve gone through this journey of investments in the organization and its capabilities and talent, along with good, solid underwriting, in order to get to the place that we are today.”
Now, Will contends, the challenge is to push each other every day within Argo’s cross-functional teams, market-facing underwriting teams, and technical underwriting teams to take business performance and profitability even higher not only in U.S. Operations, but also to sharpen the focus on profitability in the company’s International Operations.
“We all need to work together and challenge each other every day on business performance and profitability.”
BIOGRAPHY
Will Chen is chief financial officer for U.S. Operations at Argo Group, a position he has held since 2017. A 25-year veteran of the insurance industry, Will leads financial and accounting activities across Argo Group’s vast and varied U.S. holdings.