Assurant Appoints Stephen W. Gauster Senior Vice President and Chief Corporate Counsel

<p>NEW YORK, Sept. 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Assurant, Inc. ("Assurant") (NYSE: AIZ), a premier provider of specialty insurance and insurance-related products and services, announced today that it has appointed Stephen W. Gauster senior vice president and chief corporate counsel effective immediately. </p> <p></p> <p>Mr. Gauster, 38, will report to Bart Schwartz, Assurant's executive vice president and chief legal officer, and will oversee Assurant's public company legal work, its risk management function and its corporate law practice group. </p> <p></p> <p>Mr. Schwartz said: "Stephen is an accomplished corporate lawyer. His expertise in securities law, complex transactions and corporate governance with a major public insurance company and a major law firm make him ideally suited for this role."</p> <p></p> <p>Before joining Assurant, Mr. Gauster was vice president, corporate counsel and assistant secretary of Prudential Financial, Inc. and general counsel and secretary of Prudential Funding, LLC. Before that, he was an associate in the international law firm of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP, where he represented underwriters and issuers in a wide variety of public and private financings, complex securities law and corporate matters. Mr. Gauster earned his bachelor of arts degree <em>summa cum laude</em> from Harvard College, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, his master of arts degree from Harvard University, and his law degree <em>cum laude</em> from Harvard Law School, where he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review. After graduating from law school, he clerked for Hon. Jane Roth, United States Circuit Judge for the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, in Wilmington, Del.</p> <p></p> <p>Assurant is a premier provider of specialized insurance products and related services in North America and selected international markets. Its four key businesses -- Assurant Solutions, Assurant Specialty Property, Assurant Health and Assurant Employee Benefits -- have partnered with clients who are leaders in their industries and have built leadership positions in a number of specialty insurance market segments worldwide. Assurant, a Fortune 500 company and a member of the S&P 500, is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol AIZ. Assurant has more than $26 billion in assets and $8 billion in annual revenue. Assurant has approximately 14,000 employees worldwide and is headquartered in New York's financial district. <a href="http://www.assurant.com">www.assurant.com</a>. </p> <p></p> <p></p> <p>SOURCE Assurant, Inc.</p> <p>CONTACT: Press Contact: Drew Guthrie, Manager, Communications and Media Relations, +1-212-859-7002, Fax: +1-212-859-5893, [email protected]; or Investor Relations: Melissa Kivett, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations, +1-212-859-7029, Fax: +1-212-859-5893, [email protected], or John Egan, Vice President, Investor Relations, +1-212-859-7197, Fax: +1-212-859-5893, [email protected]</p>