National Income Life Insurance Company

National Income Life Insurance Company

Type	Subsidiary of Torchmark Corporation
Industry	Life insurance
Founded	2000
Headquarters	Liverpool, New York
Area served	New York
Key people	Roger Smith, President and CEO
Products	supplemental health and life insurance
Website	http://www.nilife.com

National Income Life Insurance Company (NILICO), based in Liverpool, New York, provides supplemental life insurance to members of labor unions, credit unions, and associations. NILICO has State General Agents who have offices across New York state to serve working families throughout the Empire State. A.M. Best, one of the country’s oldest and most respected insurance rating companies, rates National Income Life A+ “Superior” for overall financial strength (as of 6/10). Along with its parent company, American Income Life Insurance Company (AIL), NILICO is involved on a grass roots level to support working families by establishing food banks, contributing to scholarships, assisting with voter registration and providing financial support to causes that benefit New York’s working families. NILICO is recognized as a union label company.

History

NILICO’s parent company, AIL was founded more than 50 years ago by Bernard Rapoport with $25,000 of borrowed capital.^[1] American Income Life is licensed in 49 states, the District of Columbia, Canada, and is registered to carry on business in New Zealand. AIL also has two wholly owned subsidiaries: National Income Life Insurance Company, licensed in the state of New York, and Union Heritage Life Assurance Company Limited, licensed in the Republic of Ireland. In 2000 NILICO was licensed as the New York subsidiary of AIL. Writing its first policy in 2001, NILICO now has more than $2 billion of life insurance in force.

AIL and NILICO are wholly owned subsidiaries of Torchmark Corporation (NYSE: TMK), based in McKinney, Texas.

President and CEO

Born in New York and raised in Southern California, Roger Smith joined NILICO’s parent company, AIL, fresh out of school in 1975. He quickly excelled as a field agent rising to become Agent of the Year in 1976, his first year with the company. Soon after, he was promoted to General Agent then Master General Agent, and went on to become a top manager in both positions.

In 1980, Mr. Smith was again promoted, this time to State General Agent for the state of Arkansas. During his tenure as State General Agent there, his agency was recognized as the agency with the greatest percentage over quota, and Arkansas became the first small population state to write more than $1 million in Annual Life Premium for AIL.

Mr. Smith subsequently became the State General Agent for the states of Illinois and Iowa, building one of the leading agencies within AIL. His agency progressively set and broke numerous production records over the next decade.

In September 1999, Mr. Smith was appointed Executive Vice President of American Income Life. He assumed those duties for NILICO when it was founded approximately a year later. Since assuming the leadership of AIL’s and NILICO’s separate sales forces he has instituted changes which have led to record growth and production for both companies.

In January 2002, Mr. Smith was appointed to President and Chief Marketing Officer of AIL and NILICO. In December 2003, Mr. Smith was promoted to Chief Executive Officer and President of both companies.

Mr. Smith has received recognition in a number of public service areas. He was appointed to the Board of the Alliance for Retired Americans, which represents retired union members concerning their political and social needs. He is also a member of the Board of Elderly Housing Development & Operations Corporation (EHDOC) which manages the health, welfare and housing of union poverty level retirees. He serves as the president of the Labor Advisory Board of AIL and NILICO as well as a consultant to Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA). Mr. Smith has been an active member of the National Democratic Committee for a number of years. In 2009, Mr. Smith was awarded the Eleanor Roosevelt Award for Human Rights, which honors outstanding promoters of rights in the United States.

References

1. ^ Rapoport, Bernard (2002). Being Rapoport. University of Texas Press. ISBN 0-292-77117-7 http://www.rapoportfdn.org/whoweare.php. Accessed September 21, 2010.