Member Highlight – Underwriter: J. Scott Magee
Born in Jackson, Mississippi, Scott graduated high school from Jackson Preparatory School.
He received a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Insurance, Risk Management, and Financial Planning from Mississippi State University, graduating Summa Cum Laude. During college, Scott served as president of The Fraternity of Phi Gamma Delta and was a member of Phi Kappa Phi honor society.
Scott received his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Mississippi School of Law, graduating Magna Cum Laude, and graduating in the top ten percent of his class. During law school, Scott was a member of the Mississippi Law Journal, where he served as Managing Editor. Scott received the Outstanding Student Award for the highest grade in Insurance, Torts, and Bankruptcy Reorganization classes.
After graduating law school, Scott worked for a full-service law firm in Jackson for several years. A close friend and fellow lawyer convinced Scott to take a chance to work as an Independent Petroleum Landman. The two left the firm and worked on oil and gas title opinions in Ohio, Alabama, and Mississippi. This is where Scott learned to research title and enjoyed putting together the puzzle pieces, as well as the historical aspects of searches. The landman life was diverse and included travel to any number of locations and courthouses. However, being a triple diamond member of Best Western Hotels, while noteworthy, is not the only goal in one’s life. Looking to return to Mississippi, Scott’s landman and law firm background, along with being an insurance, risk management major in college, led to Scott accepting a position with Mississippi Valley Title in 2013. In July, Scott celebrated his ten-year anniversary with the company.
Scott provides underwriting guidance to agents and approved attorneys of Old Republic National Title Insurance Company. Additionally, Scott oversees the large number of residential and complex commercial title searches the company performs for Old Republic agents. He manages the staff of the Title Services Department and assists them and abstractors with questions related to title searches. Scott also works to maintain and develop business relations with real estate firms around the state. Scott reviews and approves high limit and excess risk commitments, working with Old Republic’s national underwriting counsel, as needed, to facilitate large deals.
Scott is married to Holly Halford Magee. They have two children, Olivia (5) and Madelyn (9). Holly is a speech pathologist and teaches at Covenant Presbyterian Preschool and also works as the children’s ministry director for Covenant Presbyterian Church (Jackson). The Magee family includes Tigger, an orange tabby cat, who is a ruthless predator when not found napping. Scott and his family currently reside in Ridgeland.
Scott is an avid reader and music lover. He enjoys the outdoors, hunting and fishing, shooting sporting clays, and playing the piano and pipe organ. On weekends in the fall, you may find him making squirrel gumbo or on the back porch smoking a pork shoulder on his big green egg, while listening to a confusing mashup of genres ranging from jazz to classical music, classic country, classic rock, or the Talking Heads and Huey Lewis. Dire Straits and Jimmy Buffett are in frequent rotation.
Scott is an elder at Covenant Presbyterian Church and has taught adult Sunday School for several years, which is as much of a surprise to Scott as it will be to the reader of this newsletter.