Orland Park-based Horton Group names new president

Jan. 31--Orland Park-based insurance brokerage The Horton Group said that Dan Horton assumed the role of president of the company effective Jan. 1.

He had served as chief sales and marketing officer and will also continue in the role of chief sales officer, the company said.

Horton's father, Glenn Horton, was president, chief executive and chairman and remains as CEO and chairman of the privately held firm, according to the company.

"Dan's appointment and transition into the role of president is an exciting milestone in our succession planning and the achievement of our mission to pass the Horton Group to future generations," Glenn Horton said in a news release.

The Horton Group is ranked as the country's 39th largest insurance brokerage by Insurance Journal and has nearly $75 million in annual revenue. The company has 13 offices around the Midwest and nearly 400 employees. In addition to brokering insurance for clients, the firm, formed in 1971, provides employee benefits services.

The company said that Dan Horton, 35, began with the firm in 2005 as a client service representative, then in 2014 oversaw strategic marketing and brand awareness initiatives as chief marketing officer. He was promoted in 2016 to handle the additional duties of chief sales officer, the company said.

Horton earned a bachelor of science degree in professional flight technology from Purdue University, and a masters in business administration from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Before joining Horton in 2005 on a part-time basis, Horton was pursuing a career in aviation as a pilot, according to the company. He had worked as a pilot for Midwest Airlines in Milwaukee before joining The Horton Group, initially working at the firm's suburban Milwaukee office in Waukesha.

"Very quickly in my career, I had to make a crucial decision -- to remain a pilot or to move into business and leadership," Horton said in the news release. "Both were passions, but I saw that there is an immense opportunity in the business."

Horton lives in the south suburbs with his wife and their two young children, according to the release.

When he first entered the insurance business after college, Glenn Horton had worked alongside his father, Donald Horton, selling products such as auto and homeowner's policies at an agency in Alsip. When The Horton Group was established in Orland Park, the firm had eight employees, according to a company history.

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