Colonial Life & Accident Insurance Company
Colonial Life & Accident Insurance Company is an American insurer based in Columbia, South Carolina. It provides disability, accident, life, cancer, critical illness, and hospital confinement insurance in 49 states. Policies are sold through independent agents and brokers. Colonial Life is a wholly owned subsidiary of Unum (NYSE: UNM) but operates independently and is one of Unum’s three main business segments; it accounted for about 15% of Unum’s premium income in 2012. The company’s president and CEO is Tim Arnold (since 2015).
What Colonial Life offers
- Disability, accident, life, cancer, critical illness, and hospital confinement insurance
- Voluntary insurance products for employees
- Distributed through independent agents and brokers
- Headquartered in Columbia, South Carolina
Brief history
- 1937: Founded as Mutual Accident Company
- 1939: Converted to a stock company and renamed Colonial Life & Accident Insurance Company; Edwin F. Averyt becomes CEO
- 1970: Gayle Averyt succeeds as CEO
- 1985: Starts offering accident and cancer policies funded with pre-tax dollars
- 1989: Holds Colonial Life under Colonial Companies, Inc.
- 1991: Stephen G. Hall becomes CEO; 1992 replaced by Frank Smith
- 1993: Acquired by Unum for $571 million; James Orr becomes Colonial Life CEO
- 2003: Named sponsor of the University of South Carolina’s basketball arena (Colonial Life Arena)
- 2004: Randall Horn becomes president and CEO
- 2014: 75th anniversary Habitat for Humanity project; Timothy G. Arnold named president
- 2015: Arnold becomes CEO
- 2016: Acquires Starmount, adding dental insurance
- 2017: Opens Virginia office to serve VA and DC; expands in Georgia
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 02:42 (CET).