Amos follows family tradition at insurance giant AFLA

Peters, Andy, \u2792

English

Furman University

Furman MagazineVolume 46Issue 3 Fall 2003 Article 309-1-2003Company manAndy Peters '92Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarexchange.furman.edu/furman-magazineThis Article is made available online by Journals, part of the Furman University Scholar Exchange (FUSE). It has been accepted for inclusion in FurmanMagazine by an authorized FUSE administrator. For terms of use, please refer to the FUSE Institutional Repository Guidelines. For more information,please contact scholarexchange@furman.edu.Recommended CitationPeters, Andy '92 (2003) "Company man," Furman Magazine: Vol. 46 : Iss. 3 , Article 30.Available at: https://scholarexchange.furman.edu/furman-magazine/vol46/iss3/30Company man Visitors to the eighth floor office tower of insurance giant AFLAC in Colum­bus, Ga., probably wouldn't expect to see l ife-size cutouts of KISS bassist Gene Simmons and lead singer Paul Stanley staring them in the face as they step off the elevator. But cardboard versions of the legendary, makeup-clad, heavy-metal musicians once greeted guests to AFLAC's department of field force development - when it was headed by company scion Tripp Amos, a 1 992 Furman graduate. "At sales meetings I've dressed up as Gene Simmons and spit up the blood," says Tripp, who keeps KISS posters on the walls of his current office. "I've always loved KISS. When I'm introduced at a corporate event, they always play a KISS song. " I  know it doesn't fit the mold," he says. The 33-year-old Amos is now responsible for sales in five eastern states at AFLAC. The company was founded as the American Family Life Assurance Company in 1 955 by Tripp's uncles, John and Paul Amos, and his grandfather, Bill Amos. The seller of supplemental disabil ity, health and life i nsurance is probably best known for its humorous TV commer­cials featuring an "AFLAC"-quacking duck. The duck has helped AFLAC boost its U.S. sales as much as 30 percent a year and its yearly revenue to more than $ 1 0  bi l l ion. Yet while it is making inroads domestically, AFLAC's bread and butter is selling cancer insurance to the Japanese. "We insure one in every four Japanese," Tripp says. "Cancer in Japan is what heart disease is in the United States." Many Furman students enter col­lege undecided about what to declare as their major or what career they will pursue. Few know where they will be employed once they graduate. But that wasn't the case with Tripp. Be­cause of AFLAC's huge presence in Amos follows family tradition at insurance giant AFLAC Tripp Amos has brought the sights and sounds of KISS to AFLAC headquarters in Columbus, Ga. Japan, he participated in Furman's study-abroad program in Japan. Like nearly everything else he did at Furman, the trip was designed to prepare h im for a career at AFLAC. " I 've always known I was going to do this," Tripp says, explaining that he spent much of his energy at Furman studying or hanging out with friends. " I  wasn't that great of a contributor at Furman. I 'd love to say I was class president. I never had an office with FUSAB. I wasn't in a fraternity." But Tripp isn't just a health­insurance geek. Because he's also i nterested in professional sports, he bought a minority stake in the Columbus Wardogs, an arenafootball2 franchise that plays in the minor leagues of organized indoor footbal l .  Like many minor-league sports fran­chises, the team's future in Columbus is uncertain, but attendance has been better than average. In addition to improving the quality of life in Columbus, Tripp says he's simply a sports fan who thought it would be fun to own a team in his hometown. "I don't hunt, I don't play golf, so that's my hobby," he says. The Amos family, whose manage­ment style has helped AFLAC earn a spot in Fortune magazine's rankings of the best places to work, has a history of helping its hometown, says Tom Triplitt, alumni director at Furman and a native of Columbus. "When I think about the Amos family, it's with admiration," says Triplitt, who attended Columbus High School with AFLAC chair and chief executive Dan Amos. "I admire their entrepre­neurial spirit and their work ethic and what they've done to put Columbus on the map." Tripp, who's married to 1 992 Furman graduate Jenifer Clifton,  is one of numerous family members who work for AFLAC. Dan Amos is the son of Tripp's uncle, Paul. Tripp also has two younger cousins who work for the company as sales coordinators. Tripp's career trajectory suggests he's destined for a top position at the company. He now travels to Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia to meet with state and regional sales managers. (Dan Amos ran the company's operations in Alabama and the Florida panhandle for a decade). But Tripp doesn't want to speculate about his future move­ment on the AFLAC career ladder. "Nothing is guaranteed to me. It's not how it works here, that 'He's an Amos, so he'll be the next CEO'," he says. "We're publicly owned and the Amoses don't own 50 percent of the company. We answer to Wall Street analysts just like everyone else does." For the time being, Tripp is content trying to improve sales and marketing in his five states - using KISS, of course, as a primary point of inspiration. "Gene Simmons is the best marketer in this country," he says. "They're a rock-and-roll band with lunch boxes and record players and underwear and a pinball machine. You can even buy a KISS coffin ."  - Andy Peters '92 The author is the Atlanta bureau chief for The Macon Telegraph. 43 

Company man

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