Ray Johnston, a former president of the American Association of Managing General Agents (AAMGA) and the founder of two Montgomery, Alabama, managing general agencies, died on Nov. 2.
Johnston spent more than four decades in the wholesale and specialty insurance market. He built businesses that gave independent agents across the South access to specialty capacity.
Johnston founded the Gulf Agency in Montgomery, which became the leading Alabama-based MGA before it was acquired by American International Group. He stayed with AIG for several years after the sale. The agency’s name continued under AIG ownership, and an AIG Gulf Agency still operates in Montgomery today.
At the time, MGAs such as the Gulf Agency played a key role in regional insurance markets. Acting on behalf of insurers with authority to underwrite and bind cover, they gave local retail agents access to markets and products that would otherwise have been hard to reach, particularly for harder-to-place personal and commercial risks.
Johnston served as AAMGA president from 1982 to 1983, leading the trade body that represented managing general agents and their carrier partners. The association has since become part of WSIA, which now represents the wholesale, specialty and surplus lines market.
His time as president came during a period when MGAs were working to strengthen professional standards and their relationships with carriers. That role has become more important as the MGA sector has grown into a major source of specialty insurance distribution.
After leaving AIG, Johnston formed Sunbelt General Agency in Montgomery in partnership with American Modern Insurance Group, a specialty personal lines carrier. He led the agency until he retired in 2008.
Sunbelt continued after his retirement. In January 2010, South Carolina-based MGA Johnson & Johnson acquired Sunbelt General Agency from American Modern, according to AM Best.
Outside the industry, Johnston enjoyed spending time on his family’s farms and raising cattle.
He is survived by his wife, Helen Lewis Johnston, as well as his son, daughter, two granddaughters and two brothers.
A service will be held at Frazer Church, East Sanctuary, in Montgomery, Alabama, on Nov. 6 at 11 a.m.
“Please join us in keeping Ray’s friends and family in your thoughts,” said Brady Kelley, WSIA’s chief executive and president.
