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V O L . X X I I I N O. I I I T he cluster of a least half a dozen disability insurers around Portland may be one of the state's better kept secrets, but Unum US, which triggered the trend, is poised to break that silence with the recent acquisition of dental and vision products, plans for additional supplemental insurance and exponential growth that boosted aggregate sales by more than $600 million over the past fi ve years. " e merger [with Starmount Life Insurance Co. of Baton Rouge, La.] was about our growth, and they had expertise and products," says Michael Simonds, president and CEO of Unum US, who worked his way up to head the company after starting as a temporary administrative assistant in 1994. "For employers, dental and vision coverage are in high demand." Unum US, the third-largest employer in Portland, has 190,000 clients across the United States. Starmount's current $180 million in revenue is expected to grow to $500 million over the next fi ve years with the companies' merger, Simonds says. Unum US is the primary business of Unum Group (NYSE: UNM), a $10.7 billion corporation based in Chattanooga, Tenn. e largest contingent of Unum Group's 10,000 employees, some 2,800, is in Maine. Unum US insurance products include disability, life accident, critical illness, dental and vision for the workplace. It does not sell health or retirement insurance. Unum Group bought H&J Capital LLC, the parent of Starmount, in a $127 million deal plus net assets that closed last Aug. 1. e deal is expected to be neutral to accretive to Unum's earnings per share in 2017, according to Unum. Unum Group is a darling on Wall Street, and as a whole delivered favorable operating results across most of its insurance entities in the past few years, according to a Jan. 18 Zacks Equity Research report posted on Yahoofi nance.com. Zacks also cited con- servative pricing as contributing to profi tability over a considerable time. e group's shares gained nearly 56% in the last year, signifi cantly outperforming Zacks Accident & Health industry's growth of about 32%. Zacks expects the upward momentum to continue on the back of buying Starmount, which can help Unum capitalize on growth in the dental market, part of its strategy to focus more on the employee benefi ts business. As of Jan. 1, Starmount's products are being sold now as Unum Vision nationwide and as Unum P H O T O / T I M G R E E N WAY Unum moves nimbly in changing market With acquistions and new products, the disability insurer is on a fast growth trajectory B y L o r i V a l i g r a F O C U S Unum US 2211 Congress St., Portland Products: Disability, life accident, critical illness, dental, vision insurance for companies Founded: 1848 as Union Mutual President/CEO Unum US: Mike Simonds Employees: 2,800 Sales (2015): $939.6 million Contact: www.unum.com / 575-2211 Michael Q. Simonds, president and CEO of Unum US, at the Portland offi ce. Unum Group, which last year had revenue of $10.7 billion, is based in Chattanooga, Tenn. It has 10,000 employees, including 2,800 in Maine. F E B R UA R Y 6 , 2 0 1 7 20

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