Montemayor Joins Insurance Investment Firm

Texas Insurance Commiss-ioner Jose Montemayor, who announced earlier this year he would not seek appointment to another term as Texas’ top insurance regulator, was named a managing general partner of the Diamond Group, a merchant bank specializing in insurance industry investments. His appointment with the Diamond Group is effective in June 2005.

“We are very pleased to welcome Jose to our team. His extensive skills, experience, and leadership in difficult turn-around and restructure situa-tions are a great asset to our organization,” stated Jay Novik, chairman of Black Diamond Group, in announcing the appointment.

Montemayor stated, “Black Diamond is a great firm. I look forward to working with some of the most respected leaders and innovators in the industry at a time of great change in the regional and national insurance markets.”

Montemayor’s 12-year tenure at the Texas Department of Insurance included six years as commissioner. During this time, Montemayor launched the $130 million per year Texas FAIR plan, ensuring coverage for Texas homeowners when the homeowners’ market restricted ac-cess to coverage. He worked with the Texas Legislature to modernize insurance regulation and to address increases in medical malpractice premiums.

Montemayor served as the chairman of the Property and Casualty Committee of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners and is regarded as one of the nation’s leading experts in property and casualty issues. In addition, he headed the NAIC Examination Oversight Task Force where he was a leader in solvency regulation and also chaired the NAIC’s Holding Company group where he coordinated the regulation of company groups in-cluding international holding companies with European Union regulators.

He also chaired the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) tri-national group, composed of members from the U.S., Canada and Mexico.