Colonial Life & Accident Insurance Company
 | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Insurance |
| Founded | 1939 |
| Founder | Edwin F. Averyt |
| Headquarters | |
Area served | United States |
Key people | Timothy G. Arnold (President and CEO) |
| Products | Personal Insurance Products Accident Insurance Cancer Insurance Critical Illness Insurance Dental Insurance Disability Insurance Life Insurance Supplemental Health Insurance |
| Parent | Unum (NYSE: UNM) |
| Website | ColonialLife.com |
Colonial Life & Accident Insurance Company is an American insurance company based in Columbia, South Carolina.[1] Colonial Life offers disability, accident, life, cancer, critical illness and hospital confinement insurance plans in 49 states.[2] Colonial Life was founded in 1939 by Edwin Averyt and became a wholly owned subsidiary of Unum in 1993.[2][3]
Tim Arnold has served as Colonial Life's chief executive since January 2015.[4]
History
[edit]Independent company
[edit]Colonial Life's history traces back to 1929 when company founder Edwin Averyt was working as a bond salesman and met with a former University of Alabama classmate who was successful at selling individual accident insurance policies.[5] Averyt later moved to South Carolina to become the regional manager of a firm that sold savings bonds, United Securities Company of Kansas City, Missouri.[6] In 1937, he earned a $2,000 commission.[5] He raised an additional $3,000 from investors and founded Mutual Accident Company the same year.[6] Mutual Accident Company originally sold $1,000 accident policies for $3 annually; policies that were very similar to the policies sold by Averyt's former classmate.[5]
Mutual Accident Company was converted to a stockholder company in 1939 and was later renamed as Colonial Life & Accident Insurance Company.[6][7] Edwin Averyt served as company chief executive until 1970 when failing health forced his retirement.[6] His son, Gayle, replaced Averyt as chief executive.[5] Colonial Life began offering accident and cancer insurance policies to employees using pre-tax dollars in 1985.[5] These policies accounted for half of all new policies issued by the company by 1990.[5] In 1989, Colonial Life created a holding company, Colonial Companies, Inc.[8] Colonial Life became a wholly owned subsidiary of Colonial Companies.[8] In March 1991, Stephen G. Hall was named chief executive of Colonial Life.[9] Hall had served as company president since 1986.[9] Gayle Averyt retained chairmanship of the company.[9] Hall resigned from Colonial Life in February 1992 and was replaced by Frank Smith.[10]
Unum subsidiary
[edit]Unum acquired Colonial Life in 1993 for $571 million.[11] James Orr, Unum's chief executive, assumed the position of Colonial Life chief executive with the merger.[11] In 2003, Colonial became the named sponsor of the University of South Carolina's basketball arena.[12] The company agreed to pay $5.5 million over 12 years for the name rights to Colonial Life Arena.[12] Randall Horn became Colonial Life president and chief executive officer in 2004.[13] He replaced Jean Duke.[13]
In 2014, Colonial Life completed a Habitat for Humanity building project during its 75th anniversary.[14][15] In July 2014, Timothy G. Arnold became the company's president. He assumed the role of chief executive in early 2015.[16] Through the acquisition of Starmount, Colonial Life became active with dental in 2016.[17] In 2017, Colonial Life opened a new office in Virginia, to serve the Virginia and Washington, D.C. areas.[18] The company has also expanded in Georgia.[19]
Operations
[edit]Colonial Life sells voluntary insurance products for employees.[20][21] The company issues insurance policies in the disability, accident, life, critical illness, hospital confinement and cancer segments.[20] Its products are marketed by independent insurance agents and brokers.[4]
The company is headquartered in Columbia, South Carolina.[6] Colonial Life is wholly owned by Unum, but operates as an independent subsidiary.[4] Colonial Life is one of Unum's three major business segments and accounted for 15% of Unum's premium income for the year 2012.[4] Tim Arnold is Colonial Life's chief executive.[4]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "Unum Group". The New York Times. Retrieved 30 March 2014.
- ^ a b Daniel F. Cuff (12 November 1982). "President Leaves Colonial Life in Rift". The New York Times. Retrieved 30 March 2014.
- ^ "Unum to Buy Colonial in $570 Million Stock Deal". The New York Times. 5 December 1992. Retrieved 30 March 2014.
- ^ a b c d e "United States Securities and Exchange Commission 10-K Form Unum Group". United States Securities and Exchange Commission. Retrieved 30 March 2014.
- ^ a b c d e f Chithelen, I. (11 November 1991). "Policies priced for profit". Forbes.
- ^ a b c d e Anne Creed. "Insurance Town". Columbia Metropolitan. Retrieved 30 March 2014.
- ^ Jeff Wilkinson. "Columbia a giant of insurance". The State. Archived from the original on June 16, 2012. Retrieved 30 March 2014.
- ^ a b "Colonial Life Holders OK Holding Company". Reuters News. 16 November 1989.
- ^ a b c "Who's News Brief: Colonial Companies Inc". The Wall Street Journal Europe. 5 March 1991.
- ^ "Colonial Cos. Names New President". Reuters News. 27 February 1992.
- ^ a b "Unum to acquire Colonial Cos. in $570 million merger". Reuters News. 4 December 1992.
- ^ a b Jacob Jordan (7 October 2003). "USC arena to be renamed 'Colonial Center'". Associated Press Newswires.
- ^ a b "Colonial names new chief". Associated Press Newswires.
- ^ Roddie Burris (April 19, 2014). "Colonial Life has built brand on trust". The State. Retrieved May 1, 2014.
- ^ "Colonial Life celebrates 75 years of protecting America's workers". The Wall Street Journal. April 17, 2014. Retrieved May 1, 2014.
- ^ "Colonial Life CEO Horn to retire, Arnold to take over". Columbia Regional Business Report. 20 May 2014. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
- ^ Pare, Mike (December 23, 2016). "Unum expanding into dental, vision insurance in 2017". timesfreepress.com. Times Free Press. Retrieved June 15, 2017.
- ^ Kazour, Mona (May 2, 2017). "Colonial Life Opens New DC Territory Office". patch.com. The Patch. Retrieved June 15, 2017.
- ^ "Colonial Life names new territory manager for Georgia". The Marietta Daily Journal. May 6, 2017. Retrieved June 15, 2017.
- ^ a b "Colonial Life & Accident Insurance Company". Hoovers. Retrieved 30 March 2014.
- ^ Cyril Tuohy (27 September 2013). "Colonial Life Launches New Voluntary Group Product". Insurance News Net. Retrieved 30 March 2014.