Tom Watjen
Unum CEO Tom Watjen told the Rotary Club on Thursday that the local insuror had weathered some rough times and is back on course.
He said, "The company has been transformed and we feel it has a very promising future. We have a wonderful management team in place."
Mr. Watjen said Unum will operate cautiously and stay the course as a possible recession is on the horizon. He said there are no plans for any new building projects at the Chattanooga campus.
He said there may be "some great opportunities" in the current upended financial market. He said Unum is "in the hunt" and is open to acquisitions that will blend into the current three-prong operation - Unum US, Colonial and the United Kingdom operation. He added, "But we will be very, very cautious."
He said one strength of the company is its diversity among the three units. He said other operations have been shed, including those in Canada, France, Japan, Belgium and Argentina.
Unum serves some 100,000 businesses and paid out over $6 billion in claims last year.
The speaker said earnings are up at Unum and investors saw a return of almost 16 percent last year.
He said Unum plans to stay focused on its key businesses and emphasize business "discipline" during the current uncertain times.
He said the company plans to become more visible, including some recent advertising on ESPN.
He noted that the spread-out operations are a reflection of the consolidations that have led to the current company. The component firms are Unum (Maine), Provident (Chattanooga), Paul Revere (Massachusetts) and Colonial (South Carolina). Unum focuses on disability insurance, while Colonial is second to AFLAC on supplemental insurance.
Unum, with its 2,800 Chattanooga employees, is the fifth largest company in Tennessee.
Mr. Watjen said one of his early moves was to move away from high-risk investments. He noted the firm had no subprime mortgages and very few commercial mortgages in its portfolio.
Tom Kinser, a Unum board member who introduced Mr. Watjen, said he had "quietly turned around the company into one that is respected by insurance regulators and is a model of integrity of good governance."