Argonaut Group Announces the Addition of Robert C. Ingram III as Chief Information Officer

Business Wire, March 13, 2006

SAN ANTONIO -- Argonaut Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: AGII), a national underwriter of specialty insurance products in niche areas of the property and casualty market, announced today that Robert C. Ingram III has joined the organization as Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer.

Ingram will report to Mark E. Watson III, President and Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Watson stated, "Bob Ingram brings Argonaut a twenty year track record of leading information technology teams in large scale, service-oriented environments as well as a practical knowledge of the business of insurance. As Chief Information Officer, Bob will lead our ongoing efforts to run our business more efficiently and effectively and to implement high quality products and services customized to fit our niche markets' needs. Our ability to leverage technology to deliver state of the art, user-friendly solutions for our clients and business partners is a key success factor of our long term strategy for profitable growth."

Prior to joining Argonaut, Mr. Ingram served as Senior Vice President for Information Technology at USAA for seven years, where he was responsible for the technology functions supporting the property and casualty operation. Previously, Mr. Ingram served as a Director with IBM; Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer for U.S. Long Distance; and as an Associate Partner with Andersen Consulting. Mr. Ingram earned both his Masters of Business Administration and Finance and Bachelors of Business Administration and Business Management from Texas A&M University. He has held a Board of Director position with EPL Acquisition Corporation and has served as Chairman of LOMA's Property and Casualty CIO Council.

ABOUT ARGONAUT GROUP, INC.

Headquartered in San Antonio, Argonaut Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:AGII) is a national underwriter of specialty insurance products in niche areas of the property and casualty market, with approximately $3.4 billion in assets. Through its insurance subsidiaries, Argonaut Group offers a full line of high quality products and services designed to meet the unique coverage and claims handling needs of businesses in three primary segments: Excess and Surplus Lines, Select Markets, and Public Entity. Members of Argonaut Group include Colony, Argonaut Specialty, Rockwood, Great Central, Grocers Insurance, Trident, and Argonaut Insurance. Information on Argonaut Group and its subsidiaries is available at www.argonautgroup.com