BY JAMIE MORGANPrimerica has long been a householdname as a provider of financial servicesfor middle-income Americans. As ofApril 2010, the company took its namepublic as ticker symbol “PRI” on the NewYork Stock Exchange (NYSE). The for-mer Citigroup Inc. subsidiary made thebold decision to proceed with an IPO dur-ing a time when many companies wereless concerned with growth and morepreoccupied with simply staying afloat.

“Citigroup clearly was executing astrategy to focus more on its core bankingbusiness.” explains John Addison, co-CEO of Primerica.

“Therefore, a strategic decision wasmade by us and Citigroup that Primerica,which is not in the banking business, didnot fit into that model. Becoming our owncompany has not been easy, but it was theright course and the right direction forour business.”

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Primerica Inc.

www.primerica.com

2010 revenue: $1.4 billion

Licensed representatives: More than 90,000

Headquarters: Duluth, Ga.

Specialty: Financial services marketing

Employees: 2,000

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Sticking to its Core PRIMERICA SHOWS THAT WHILE EVOLUTION IS NECESSARY, STANDING ON CORE PRINCIPLES IS JUSTAS ESSENTIAL TO ITS SUCCESS.

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> P R I M E R I C A I N C .// Founded in 1977, Primerica became its own entity

in April 2010, and continues to focus on the middle-

income families

The IPO was a four-year process thatculminated on April 1, 2010, with Addi-son and Co-CEO Rick Williams ringingthe NYSE closing bell, under the newPrimerica logo and its tagline, “FreedomLives Here.”

“In March 2010, we met with 200 insti-tutional investors in five countries. Ofthose 200 potential investors, 96 percentchose to invest in Primerica, includingeight of the 10 largest mutual funds inNorth America,” Addison recalls.

“April 1 was one of the most excitingand gratifying days in my career. For ourmore than 2,000 employees and 95,000representatives, it signaled not the end ofa process, but the dawn of a new era – the

re-founding of Primerica.“Over our 34-year history, the world

has changed a great deal, as has our in-dustry,” he continues. “The advance-ments in technology over that time andits impact on our business is mind-bog-gling. And while we continue to adapt andmove forward as a company, our coreprinciples have not changed. The founda-tion of our business is building a distribu-tion force and giving motivated people aunique business opportunity both part-time and full-time, who deliver financialproducts to middle-income families. Weare a Main Street company that deliversfor Main Street families.”

Since 1977, Primerica has built a busi-

ness around its term life insurance main-stay under its now familiar slogan “BuyTerm and Invest the Difference.” Accord-ing to Addison, there is less life insurancesold today than in 1975 and many peopleare not covered at all or have inadequatecoverage through employers. However,Primerica, which paid out close to $1 bil-lion in death claims in 2010 alone, offersan average face amount of more than$280,000 of term life insurance protec-tion per customer.

In addition to its core life insuranceproducts, the company also offers a rangeof other complementary products — alldesigned to provide greater financial se-curity for families.

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“We are much more Main Street than Wall Street. And that’s the kind of people we want to attract.People with ordinary backgrounds that have extraordinary dreams.” -John Addison, co-CEO

These include: • Debt consolidation loans• Primerica DebtWatchers™• Mutual fund investments• An auto and homeowner’s insurance re-

ferral program• Variable annuities• Long-term care insurance • Pre-paid legal services

“Term-life insurance will always be thecornerstone and core of our business, butit is also critical to help people learn howto develop meaningful savings plans,” Ad-dison says. “The combination of thosethings offers a tremendous upside oppor-tunity for the people who are introducedto our products because not only are mostmiddle-income families not protectedadequately with life insurance, they alsolack meaningful savings and investmentprograms. Primerica’s ability to delivergreater financial security and an out-standing business opportunity at thesame time provides us with a distinctcompetitive edge.”

Addison is referring to the middle-in-come bracket – a group ignored by manyfinancial institutions that target the verywealthy. It’s a unique model within the fi-nancial services industry that has been inplace since Primerica was founded byArthur L. Williams. Addison says it’s evermore crucial during a nationwide state offinancial uncertainty. “People right noware more stressed in this economy than atany other time that I can remember in mybusiness career,” he says. “In order tohelp more families achieve greater finan-cial security, we are working harder thanever to improve our products, our tech-nology, our client service and of course,our business opportunity.”

Instead of peddling the latest financial

fad products, Primerica comes alongsideits customers to deliver real financial so-lutions. For instance, Primerica offers aFinancial Needs Analysis (FNA) that is“complimentary, confidential and cus-tomized” for each Primerica client. Thecompany says it applies to anyone withchildren or debt or anyone who plans toretire or lacks a strategy for financial in-dependence, which covers just about any-one. “We build our products for theunderserved middle income market,” Ad-dison says. “We’ll go to see someone whomakes $60,000 not just $600,000.”

‘I Found a Home’Addison began his career with Primericain 1982 when it was still a start-up. “I an-swered a want ad in the Atlanta paper,and I found a home,” he says.

It’s a home where he has worked tire-lessly to excel, driven by a sense of mis-sion that Primerica did “what’s right” foraverage and ordinary people. Addisoncame to the company as a business sys-tems analyst, and as it goes with smallcompanies, he was able to gain valuableexperience in nearly every departmentand served at every level in his eventual

// Primerica’s 2007 convention at the Georgia Dome

drew more than 50,000 Primerica representatives

from across North America.

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route to president and finally, as co-CEO. “The three rings in our new logo repre-

sent three key parties to our past and fu-ture success: one ring stands for our salesforce, the other two represent our clientsand the company,” Addison says. “ArtWilliams, who founded Primerica 34years ago, worked to build opportunitiesfor people who come from ordinary back-grounds to grow, and to this day, thisseemingly simple concept remains one ofthe cornerstones of our business.”

For representatives in the field, thismeans an opportunity to build a career orearn extra income on the terms of eachindividual. For the clients, it equates to astable financial resource. For the corpo-

rate employees, it means there is a finan-cial services company that doesn’t shunthose without Ivy League degrees – in-stead Addison says the company looks forsharp, hardworking people.

“We are much more Main Street thanWall Street,” he says. “And that’s the kindof people we want to attract – people withordinary backgrounds that have extraor-dinary dreams.”

Aligning ForcesPrimerica’s IPO solidified this belief. Thecompany’s venture into the public realmhas opened up more opportunities for itsindependent Regional Vice Presidentsand other reps to become significantshareholders in company stock. “Provid-ing a meaningful stake for our sales forcehas created a unique ownership structurein the financial services industry,” thecompany says. “We are proud of our eq-

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“PEOPLE RIGHT NOWARE MORE STRESSEDIN THIS ECONOMYTHAN AT ANY OTHERTIME THAT I CANREMEMBER IN MYBUSINESS CAREER.”

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uity incentive programs which help buildboth short- and long-term alignment forall of our stakeholders.

“Most importantly, the sales forces’ re-action to becoming a public company ex-ceeded our expectations.”

Primerica has more than 20,000 fieldleaders who have been with Primerica forat least 10 years, and 7,000 of those lead-ers have been with the company for atleast 20 years. In 2010’s fourth quarter,the company announced a four percentrecruiting increase compared to the sameperiod in 2009. Addison says Primerica iscontinually focused on its distributionchannel in a way that is beneficial notonly for the corporation but also its salesforce, as it is an integral part of Primer-ica’s success.

He also explains that having the rightsales representatives and employeesmust be combined with the leaders whoset the tone. In his view, as leader, hemust be a steward of the agents, employ-

ees and clients who depend on Primericafor their livelihood, not just a personseeking individual gain.

In his earlier years with the company,after its founder, Mr. Williams, leftPrimerica, Addison would take standsagainst leadership when he felt Primericawas being pushed in a direction thatdidn’t reflect its business model.

“I was the kind of person who stood upsometimes and put myself in a little bit ofan unpopular position on what the com-pany needed to do,” he explains.

“Management may have wanted to goin one direction, but if I knew that wasn’tthe right direction for the company I tooka stand.” •mt

// Co-CEOs John Addison (left) and Rick Williams cele-

brated Primerica’s IPO on April 1, 2010, when they

rang the NYSE closing bell.

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J U S T C A L L M E J O H NWith any leadership position there is, at times, a temptation to take advantage of the title.

Which is why co-CEO of Primerica John Addison makes sure to put the people of Primerica

first. “I believe when you’re in a leadership position over a company that it’s not about you

and your career,” he says. “Many times I see leaders of companies more interested in them-

selves as a CEO than of the people betting their lives on the company.”

Addison came to Primerica in 1982 as a business systems analyst. Before becoming co-

CEO in 1999, he served as vice-president and senior vice president of Primerica Life. He also

served as executive vice president and group executive vice-president of marketing and

president of Primerica Financial. In each position his goal was to be a steward of the company

accessible and hardworking with a servants attitude. “I don’t want people calling me Mr.

Addison — I’m John,” he says. “The leader has to be the hardest working, the most committed,

the most involved; not a person who comes in, stares at reports and goes to play golf. There’s

a difference between leaders and managers. Leaders set the tone for the organization.”

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Published by Business Media Publications Tel: 312.447.5800 Fax: 312.236.4266

On behalf of Primerica Inc. © 2011 Business Media Publications. All rights reserved.