Profile

Horace Mann is an Illinois-based auto, property, and life insurance, as well as financial services company that focuses on retirement annuities and mutual funds. Horace Mann primarily works with educators and their families. Horace Mann was founded in Springfield, Illinois, in 1945. Originally named the IEA Mutual Insurance Company because of its affiliation with the Illinois Education Association, Horace Mann was founded by teachers Leslie Nimmo and Carrol Hall. Nimmo and Carroll created IEA Mutual to sell automotive insurance to Illinois teachers. The company was later renamed Horace Mann, after the American educational reformer of the same name. Mann himself was not involved with the company. In 1947, Horace Mann began to sell insurance policies outside of Illinois and in 1949, the Horace Mann Life Insurance Company was founded. Horace Mann would later add property insurance. In 1961, the company began selling tax-deferred annuities, and in 2003, it entered the mutual funds business. In 1974, the Insurance Company of North America , a Philadelphia-based insurance and financial services corporation, began increasing its holdings of Horace Mann and by January 1975 had acquired the company. In 1982, INA Corporation merged with Connecticut General Corporation, forming a new holding company known as CIGNA.