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Our company's history began in 1955 with the idea of principal founder John Amos and his brothers, Paul and Bill, who saw a need for financial protection when a medical event occurs. As Aflac continues to evolve as a company, we maintain the spirit of our founders by keeping our commitment to putting policyholders first.
1955 - 1969: A time of vision |
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1955 |
American Family Life Insurance Company of Columbus was founded Nov. 17, 1955, when principal founder John and his brothers Paul and Bill Amos, started in a small six-room complex in downtown Columbus, Georgia. The company began with just 16 employees and 60 agents. After its first year of operation, American Family Life Insurance Company had over 6,400 policyholders and $388,000 in assets. |
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1957 |
American Family Life pioneered the introduction of a cancer policy after identifying the need to lift the financial burden of cancer patients and their families. |
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1964 |
American Family Life began “cluster selling,” which involved selling our cancer insurance products at the work site in addition to selling directly to individuals. The company became American Family Life Assurance Company of Columbus — a name change that would later set Aflac up for one of the most groundbreaking advertising campaigns in history. |
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The 1970s: A decade of expansion |
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1970 |
American Family Life expanded from a small regional company into a rapidly growing national insurer licensed in 37 states. John Amos traveled to Osaka, Japan, to visit the World’s Fair. While there, he observed many people wearing surgical masks and was told it was to avoid spreading or catching a cold. It occurred to him how a society that would go to such lengths to avoid the risk of the common cold would most certainly embrace the company’s insurance — and he was right! |
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1974 |
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1975 |
To accommodate the incredible growth, American Family Life employees excitedly moved into the $7.1 million, fully paid-for, 19-story headquarters office building. |
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The 1980s: A decade of momentum |
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The 1980s continued our momentum as the company developed its strategy of broadening the product line and expanding its distribution system. |
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1982 |
The company reached another milestone by increasing its total assets to over $1 billion. |
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1985 |
Aflac U.S. introduced an accident policy and a first-occurrence benefit to the cancer policy. Aflac Japan also introduced another innovative product — the world’s first dementia care policy. |
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1989 |
American Family Life Assurance Company of Columbus officially adopted the acronym “AFLAC.” |
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The 1990s: A decade of innovation |
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The early ‘90s marked the launch of Aflac’s first national advertising campaign in the U.S., designed to increase the company's name recognition and laid the foundation for a decade of strong growth. Accident/disability insurance became the No. 1 selling product for Aflac U.S. |
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1990 |
Daniel P. Amos became CEO of Aflac Incorporated and Paul S. Amos became chairman. The company started showing up in homes across America through national TV campaigns with the slogan, "AFLAC: Ask about it at work.” |
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1995 |
In keeping with our purpose to be there when people need us most, Aflac began to focus its national philanthropic efforts on the treatment and cure of childhood cancer with a pledge of $3 million to establish the Aflac Cancer Center at what was then Egleston Children’s Hospital, now known as Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. Since that time, Aflac, the company, sales force and employees have contributed more than $193 million to what is now known as the Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, recognized as one of the top childhood cancer centers by U.S. News and World Report. |
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1996 |
Aflac U.S. introduced SmartApp®, which revolutionized the policy application process by allowing agents to electronically issue business more quickly and conveniently than ever before. In 1999, SmartApp® received the Computerworld Smithsonian Award for Excellence in Technology. |
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2001 |
Aflac Japan joined the Children's Cancer Association of Japan to build the first Aflac Parents House location. Later, a second Parents House was built in Tokyo, and then a third in Osaka, offering parents additional homes-away-from-home while their children receive treatment for pediatric cancer and other serious diseases. Since the early 2000s, the three Aflac Parents House locations have provided support to more than 150,000 pediatric patients and their families. |
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Brand Recognition: Aflac’s success and momentum continued into the new millennium with the launch of the Aflac Duck campaign that catapulted Aflac’s consumer awareness to where about 9 out of 10 people recognize the Aflac brand in both the United States and Japan. |
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2000 |
Jan. 1: The Aflac Duck appeared on the scene in its first commercial “Park Bench.” Since then, the Aflac Duck has become an advertising icon in both the United States and Japan, appearing in hundreds of commercials. The commercials featuring the Aflac Duck didn’t just help people remember the company’s name; they transformed the Aflac Duck into a cultural icon, a soaring symbol of its philanthropy, and a powerful reminder that help can come with heart — and humor. By 2002, U.S. sales had doubled, and new sales topped $1 billion for the first time. The Aflac Duck impacted just about every aspect of the company and aligned us with some of the best-branded companies in the country. |
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2003 |
A less-boisterous Aflac Duck made a splash as the main character in Aflac Japan’s advertising, helping us expand the protection we provide to Japanese consumers. Aflac Japan became the No. 1 insurance company in terms of the number of individual cancer and medical policies in force. |
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2005 |
Aflac changed its logo to include the icon that has spearheaded great brand recognition: the Aflac Duck. Aflac pledged $1 million to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial at West Potomac Park in Washington, D.C. |
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2008 |
Aflac became the first publicly owned company in the United States to give shareholders a non-binding “Say on Pay” advisory vote on executive compensation. |
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2009 |
Aflac completed its acquisition of Continental American Insurance Company, which is currently branded as Aflac Group Insurance, increasing our ability to reach employees at worksites across the U.S. by expanding our position in the broker sales market. |
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The 2010s: Spreading our wings |
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2011 |
Aflac U.S. exceeded $5 billion in annualized premiums in force for the first time. Aflac was the first company to contribute more than $1 million to the Red Cross for tsunami relief after a tragic earthquake off of the coast of Northeastern Japan. |
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2012 |
For the first time, Aflac invited a patient at the Aflac Cancer Center to design the popular Aflac Holiday Duck. Each year, thousands of plush ducks are sold throughout the country and online, with the net profits from the sales going help to support children’s cancer treatment programs in the area where the duck was sold. |
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2013 |
Aflac Chairman and CEO Dan Amos accepted the “Salute to Greatness” award from the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Center in Atlanta. Aflac Japan began expansion of its partnership with Japan Post group to offer Aflac’s cancer insurance policy to Japanese consumers, ultimately giving access to distribution through 20,000 postal outlets within a couple of years. |
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2015 |
Aflac names Teresa White as president of Aflac U.S. and Audrey Boone Tillman as general counsel, making them the first African Americans and the first women to hold their respective top leadership positions. |
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2016 |
Aflac was the first corporation to donate $1 million to The Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. |
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2018 |
With the help of pediatric oncologists and psychologists, childhood cancer survivors, and animatronics experts, we introduced My Special Aflac Duck® — a robotic companion designed to comfort children with cancer. This compassionate companion was a rousing success, winning “Best in Show” at the CES, and being named by TIME Magazine as one of the 50 Best Inventions of 2018. My Special Aflac Duck is given to these pediatric patients free of charge to help comfort them during treatment and recovery. Since that time, Aflac has given My Special Aflac Ducks to more than 34,000 children in the United States, Japan and Northern Ireland through 2024. Aflac Incorporated successfully converted its Japan branch (Aflac Japan) to a subsidiary, Aflac Life Insurance Japan. |
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2019 |
In October 2019, Aflac opened an office in Northern Ireland, where our operations work to provide an exceptional digital experience for our customers and policyholders in their time of need, while supporting field agents with onboarding, selling and servicing their policyholder accounts. In November 2019, Aflac completed its acquisition of what would come to be known as Aflac Dental and Vision. |
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The 2020s: A decade of helping close gaps in health care |
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2020 |
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Aflac was among the first to move more than 90% of employees in the U.S. to remote work configuration. |
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2022 |
In February 2022, after significant research, Aflac adapted its award-winning My Special Aflac Duck program for children with cancer to include children with sickle cell disease and blood disorders. More than 1,000 requests were received within the first month of the newly designed program for this disease that impacts more than 100,000 Americans. |
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2023 |
Virgil Miller was named President of Aflac U.S., succeeding retiring Teresa White. |
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2024 |
Aflac Japan celebrated its 50th anniversary of operating in Japan. Aflac Incorporated celebrated its 50th anniversary of being listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). |
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2025 |
Aflac celebrated its 70th year since its founding. Dan Amos celebrated his 35th anniversary as CEO of Aflac Incorporated. Virgil Miller named president of Aflac Incorporated — making him the first African American to hold this title — in addition to the role of president of Aflac U.S. Aflac celebrated the 30th anniversary of the Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center. Aflac Incorporated marked its 43rd consecutive year of increasing dividends. Aflac celebrated the 25th year since the introduction of the Aflac Duck. |
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Now and in the future: Accolades and recognition |
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An immeasurable number of events have taken place over the decades — but it’s not the number of years that matters most — it’s the opportunity and the privilege of benefiting the lives of millions of people. What began as a dream has become a company trusted by millions, powered by performance and purpose. From that six-room office in Columbus, Georgia to an international Fortune 500 company, we’ve never lost sight of why we started. Not just to offer insurance … but to be there when people need us most. |
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Aflac has continued to make remarkable accomplishments, and the world continues to take notice. For example, Aflac Incorporated (NYSE: AFL), a Fortune 500 company, has helped provide financial protection and peace of mind for seven decades to millions of policyholders and customers through its subsidiaries in the U.S. and Japan. In the U.S., Aflac is the No. 1 provider of supplemental health insurance products.1 In Japan, Aflac Life Insurance Japan is the leading provider of cancer and medical insurance in terms of policies in force. The company takes pride in being there for its policyholders when they need us most, as well as being included in the World’s Most Ethical Companies by Ethisphere for 19 consecutive years (2025), making Aflac the only insurance company in the world to appear on this list every year since its inception in 2007. Additionally, Aflac has been listed on Fortune’s World’s Most Admired Companies for 24 years (2025). In addition, the company became a signatory of the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) in 2021 and has been included in the Dow Jones Sustainability North America Index (2024) for 11 years. 1 LIMRA 2024 U.S. Supplemental Health Insurance Total Market Report |
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Z2501085
EXP 11/26
American Family Life made history, becoming the second U.S. life insurance company to operate in Japan. American Family Life was not only the first insurance company to offer cancer insurance in the U.S., but also was the pioneer of cancer insurance in Japan, setting the stage for what would later be known as the "third sector” of insurance products.
On June 14, American Family Corporation was listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the symbol “AFL."