Dear Valued Agent:

Since the inception of AgriSompo North America, one of my three major goals was to build out a strong succession plan for both the U.S. and International leadership roles. This is essential to our business strength and stability in the coming years.

With this focus on succession, Brad Leighton assumed the role of President of AgriSompo North America on January 1, 2023. Brad has earned the respect of our team and has the innate qualities to lead our organization within our industry and on the broader Sompo International stage. Brad has my full confidence and support in this new role.

Marji Alaniz assumed the role of Chief Operating Officer of AgriSompo North America and also President of all International Operations including direct written, assumed, and parametric business on January 1, 2023. I know that Marji has the ability and passion to lead this organization forward to greater heights than before.  

I will remain in my role as Chairman and CEO of AgriSompo for the foreseeable future and look forward to the potential these new appointments bring to AgriSompo overall.

Additionally, we have started the necessary structural changes internally to continue growing our commitment to a truly regional structure, putting the service points closer to you, our customers. Throughout 2023 we will be working toward a seamless transition of our current centralized underwriting and claims auditing functions to the regions.   

• Underwriting: The Regional Operations Managers and their teams of underwriters will eventually report directly to the region in which they are supporting, with a goal of better aligning the regional ability to truly service our business.

• Claims: Nick Janes, an experienced claims leader in the crop insurance industry, has assumed the role of VP of operations and effective immediately is stepping into leading our claims auditing team. Nick will be working with the claims auditing team to optimize our processes and align our procedures for more seamless regional service and support. The team will prioritize efficiencies that will improve our turnaround time of indemnity payments. With this team, our eventual goal is to move this to report directly to the regions. 

In the upcoming year, we will continue the pursuit of our vision -- to be the best crop insurance provider in the world. There will be a new farm bill this year, and we will continue our work of protecting and expanding the crop insurance program. We will continue to mentor and grow our U.S. and International leadership and will tirelessly seek new opportunities to provide risk management solutions and tools to farmers, ranchers, and agribusinesses in the U.S. and globally. 

We are dedicated to evolving and strengthening in order to better meet your needs. Thank you for choosing AgriSompo North America as your partner and for placing your trust in us, both in the past and for the future. We value your business and appreciate your support as we move into the 2023 calendar year.