Colonial Life & Accident Insurance Company is an American

insurance Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to protect ...

company based in Columbia,

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

. Colonial Life offers

disability Disability is the experience of any condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities or have equitable access within a given society. Disabilities may be Cognitive disability, cognitive, Developmental disability, d ...

accident An accident is an unintended, normally unwanted event that was not deliberately caused by humans. The term ''accident'' implies that the event may have been caused by Risk assessment, unrecognized or unaddressed risks. Many researchers, insurers ...

life Life, also known as biota, refers to matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes. It is defined descriptively by the capacity for homeostasis, Structure#Biological, organisation, met ...

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

critical illness Intensive care medicine, usually called critical care medicine, is a medical specialty that deals with seriously or critically ill patients who have, are at risk of, or are recovering from conditions that may be life-threatening. It includes p ...

and hospital confinement insurance plans in 49 states. Colonial Life was founded in 1939 by Edwin Averyt and became a wholly owned subsidiary of

Unum Unum Group is an American insurance company headquartered in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Founded as Union Mutual in 1848 and known as UnumProvident from 1999-2007, the company is part of the Fortune 500. Unum Group was created by the 1999 merger of ...

in 1993. Tim Arnold has served as Colonial Life's chief executive since January 2015.

History

Independent company

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 The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, the Capstone, or Bama) is a Public university, public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of ...

classmate who was successful at selling individual accident insurance policies. Averyt later moved to

to become the regional manager of a firm that sold savings bonds, United Securities Company of Kansas City,

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

. In 1937, he earned a $2,000 commission. He raised an additional $3,000 from investors and founded Mutual Accident Company the same year. 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. Mutual Accident Company was converted to a stockholder company in 1939 and was later renamed as Colonial Life & Accident Insurance Company. Edwin Averyt served as company chief executive until 1970 when failing health forced his retirement. His son, Gayle, replaced Averyt as chief executive. Colonial Life began offering accident and cancer insurance policies to employees using pre-tax dollars in 1985. These policies accounted for half of all new policies issued by the company by 1990. In 1989, Colonial Life created a holding company, Colonial Companies, Inc. Colonial Life became a wholly owned subsidiary of Colonial Companies. In March 1991, Stephen G. Hall was named chief executive of Colonial Life. Hall had served as company president since 1986. Gayle Averyt retained chairmanship of the company. Hall resigned from Colonial Life in February 1992 and was replaced by Frank Smith.

Unum subsidiary

acquired Colonial Life in 1993 for $571 million. James Orr,

's chief executive, assumed the position of Colonial Life chief executive with the merger. In 2003, Colonial became the named sponsor of the University of South Carolina's basketball arena. The company agreed to pay $5.5 million over 12 years for the name rights to

Colonial Life Arena The Colonial Life Arena is a multi-purpose arena in Columbia, South Carolina, primarily home to the University of South Carolina men's and women's basketball teams. Opened as a replacement for the Carolina Coliseum with the name Carolina Cente ...

. Randall Horn became Colonial Life president and chief executive officer in 2004. He replaced Jean Duke. In 2014, Colonial Life completed a

Habitat for Humanity Habitat for Humanity International (HFHI), generally referred to as Habitat for Humanity or Habitat, is a U.S. non-governmental, and tax-exempt 501(C)(3) Christian nonprofit organization which seeks to build affordable housing. The international ...

building project during its 75th anniversary. In July 2014, Timothy G. Arnold became the company's president. He assumed the role of chief executive in early 2015. Through the acquisition of Starmount, Colonial Life became active with dental in 2016. In 2017, Colonial Life opened a new office in

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

, to serve the Virginia and

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

areas. The company has also expanded in

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

Operations

Colonial Life sells voluntary insurance products for employees. The company issues insurance policies in the disability, accident, life, critical illness, hospital confinement and cancer segments. Its products are marketed by independent insurance agents and brokers. The company is headquartered in

Columbia, South Carolina Columbia is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of South Carolina. With a population of 136,632 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is List of municipalities in South Carolina, the second-mo ...

. Colonial Life is wholly owned by

, but operates as an independent subsidiary. Colonial Life is one of Unum's three major business segments and accounted for 15% of Unum's premium income for the year 2012. Tim Arnold is Colonial Life's chief executive.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Colonial Life and Accident Insurance Company Insurance companies of the United States American companies established in 1937 Financial services companies established in 1937 Companies based in Columbia, South Carolina 1937 establishments in South Carolina

History

Independent company

Unum subsidiary

Operations

See also

References