National Life Group

National Life Group is a group of financial service companies that offers life insurance and annuity products for individuals, families, and businesses. It was chartered in 1848 by the Vermont General Assembly.

National Life Group
IndustryInsurance: life and annuity
FoundedNovember 13, 1848 (1848-11-13)
Headquarters
Montpelier, Vermont
,
United States
Key people
Mehran Assadi (Chairman, CEO, and President)[1]
$223.5 Million (2019)[2]
Total assets$34 Billion (2019)[2]
Number of employees
1,200 (2019)[3]
Websitehttp://nationallife.com/

History

National Life Insurance, the predecessor company of National Life Group, was chartered by the Vermont Legislature on November 13, 1848.[4][3][5] It has been insuring people for over 170 years and was one of the first mutual life insurance companies in the U.S.[6] Past insurance customers have included passengers on the Titanic, as well as victims of the 1918 influenza epidemic.[6] It became a member of the Vermont Chamber of Commerce in 1957.[7] National Life offers a range of financial services, including life insurance coverage and retirement plans, and annuities.[8][6] The Group’s customer base was 843,000 in 2016, and in 2017 the face value of its life insurance policies was just over $100 billion.[4]

The company is based in Montpelier, Vermont, with additional offices in Addison, Texas.[9][10][1] Several member companies make up National Life Group, including Life Insurance Company of the Southwest.[11] Equity Services, Inc., a registered broker-dealer and investment advisor, is an affiliate of National Life.[12] In 2017, National Life sold Sentinel mutual funds to Touchstone Investments.[13][14]

In 2019, National Life Group expanded its partnership with Cognizant, an IT consulting corporation.[15]

In March 2020, the company’s CEO, Mehran Assadi, was awarded the Transformative CEO Award for Customer Experience in the insurance category by The CEO Forum.[16][17]

Authors Jackie and Kevin Freiberg, who wrote NUTS! Southwest Airlines’ Crazy Recipe for Business and Personal Success, feature National Life Group in their book CAUSE!.[18][19][20]

Products

Life Insurance

National Life Group offers both term and permanent life insurance.[21] Under permanent life insurance, the company offers: Whole Life, Universal Life, Indexed Universal Life (IUL), and Variable Universal Life.[21]

Two of National Life’s IUL products are FlexLife and PeakLife.[22] In 2011, National Life introduced the Lifetime Income Benefit Rider as a lifetime income option for its IUL products.[11] In 2019, the company introduced TotalSecure.[23] TotalSecure is a flexible whole life insurance product that allows customers to access their policy in the event of a qualifying illness or injury.[23]

Retirement Plans

National Life Group offers retirement annuities, IRAs, 403(b), 457(b), 401(k) plans, and profit sharing plans. [6] [9] The annuity products include both indexed variable and indexed annuities, and the company offers single and flexible premium indexed annuities.[12]

Leadership
  • Mehran Assadi: Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, and President[16]
  • Nimesh Mehta: Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer[24]
  • Robert Cotton: Chief Operating Officer[25]
  • Sarah VanBeck: Chief Financial Officer[26]

Charitable Efforts

The National Life Group Foundation sponsors various charitable events and programs focused on children, students, and educators. The Foundation helps sponsor the LifeChanger of the Year Award and the National Coalition for Safe Schools.[27] In 2018, the budget for the company’s charitable foundation was $2 million,[3] and in 2019, the Foundation funded the report, “Evidence-Based Strategies to End Childhood Food Insecurity and Hunger in Vermont”.[28]

Each year, National Life partners with The Point radio network to stage the Group’s Do Good Fest.[29] Since 2014, the Fest has raised $185,000 for cancer patients at the Central Vermont Medical Center.[29]

In March 2020, the Foundation donated $100,000 each to VT COVID-19 Response Fund and the North Texas Community Response Fund. Money from the Funds was distributed to various nonprofits.[30] According to CEO Mehran Assadi, the organizations were chosen because the majority of National Life Group’s employees live and work in Vermont and Texas.[30]

Ratings and Rankings

In 2018, the company received "A" ratings from credit agencies.[31] This included AM Best (A, Excellent), Standard & Poor's (A+, Strong) and Moody's (A2, Good).[31] The company was also included in the Fortune 1000 list and America’s Magnificent Eight Exceptional Businesses.[31][32]

In 2019, AM Best again gave National Life an insurance financial strength rating of A (Excellent).[33]  It also improved the ratings outlook of the company from stable to positive.[33]

References
  1. "Insurer is doubling its Addison office on the tollway". Dallas News. 2019-04-09. Retrieved 2019-12-19.
  2. "National Life Group 2019 Annual Report". Retrieved 2020-04-28.
  3. "National Life sales outpace national trends". VTDigger. 30 June 2019. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
  4. Efron, Louis. "How The CEO Of National Life Group Drives Continuous Improvement". Forbes. Retrieved 2019-12-19.
  5. Commissioner, Vermont Insurance (1898). Report of the Insurance Commissioner of the State of Vermont.
  6. "How This Life Insurance Company Inspires Young Adults". CreditDonkey. 2020-02-18. Retrieved 2020-06-03.
  7. "National Life Group". Vermont Chamber of Commerce. Retrieved 2020-02-20.
  8. Zind, Steve. "National Life Group Reports 2015 Earnings". www.vpr.org. Retrieved 2019-12-19.
  9. "National Life Group Life Insurance Review". Good Financial Cents®. 2017-09-06. Retrieved 2019-12-19.
  10. "How National Life manages organic growth from the inside out". CIO. 20 August 2018. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
  11. "National Life Group Introduces Lifetime Income Option on Indexed Universal Life (IUL) Products". InsuranceNewsNet. 2011-01-05.
  12. "Equity Services, Inc. SEC financial statements" (PDF). SEC. 27 February 2017.
  13. "National Life sells Sentinel mutual fund business to Touchstone". Vermont Business Magazine. 2017-10-30. Retrieved 2019-12-19.
  14. "Sentinel Mutual Funds Acquired by Touchstone Investments | Western & Southern Financial Group". www.westernsouthern.com. Retrieved 2019-12-19.
  15. "National Life Transforms Customer Experience Program with Cognizant - Apr 16, 2019". News | Cognizant Technology Solutions. Retrieved 2020-04-05.
  16. "Transformative CEO Awards For Customer Experience Announced". Forbes. Retrieved 2020-04-28.
  17. "The CEO Forum" (PDF). The CEO Forum Group. Retrieved 2020-04-28.
  18. "This CEO Is Stunning a Sleepy Industry With Culture Change--and Surprising Results". Inc. 13 June 2017.
  19. "Finding Inspiration In The Wake Of Life'S Storms | InsuranceNewsNetMagazine.com". www.insurancenewsnetmagazine.com. Retrieved 2020-02-06.
  20. "Cause-driven companies perform better, stand out in sea of sameness". Multivu. 16 February 2016.
  21. "National Life Group Life Insurance Review". Good Financial Cents®. 2017-09-06. Retrieved 2020-01-07.
  22. "No. 2 Seller of Indexed Life Doubles Coverage Limit for Fast Underwriting". Life Annuity Specialist. Retrieved 2020-01-31.
  23. "National Life launches new flexible whole life product". NS Insurance. 2019-03-05. Retrieved 2020-03-25.
  24. "National Life Group CIO on adjusting to coronavirus". Digital Insurance. 2020-05-11. Retrieved 2020-06-26.
  25. "National Life sales outpace national trends". VTDigger. 2019-06-30.
  26. "Washington County Economic Report: Downtowns garner much of the economic development focus". Vermont Business Magazine. 2019-11-11.
  27. "Indiana School Resource Officer Wins National LifeChanger of the Year Spotlight Award". Cision. 11 December 2019.
  28. "New report presents strategies to end childhood hunger in Vermont". Vermont Business Magazine. 2019-03-06. Retrieved 2020-02-25.
  29. "Sixth annual Do Good Fest raises $50,000 for cancer patients". Vermont Business Magazine. 2019-07-16. Retrieved 2020-03-03.
  30. "National Life donates $200,000 to COVID Response Funds". Vermont Business Magazine. 2020-03-26. Retrieved 2020-08-18.
  31. "National Life calls 2018 its most successful year ever". Vermont Biz. 21 May 2019.
  32. "April 2018 Issue of The CEO Forum". The CEO Forum. 2018-04-30.
  33. "AM Best improves ratings outlook of National Life to positive". Vermont Business Magazine. 2019-04-26. Retrieved 2020-12-03.
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