Living the vision: Atlanta Life Financial marks its 100th anniversary in serving African Americans and other Southeastern U.S. customers.

"Survival of the fittest" is a fitting phrase for characterizing Atlanta Life Financial Group's long journey. The privately owned financial services company survived two world wars, the Great Depression, the civil rights movement and a variety of other major events that shaped the United States in the past century--all the while never losing sight of its mission to serve, particularly within the African-American community.

Atlanta Life is celebrating its 100th anniversary with a l00-day countdown that kicked off June 14. The celebration includes a summer-long series of special events, such as an operetta based on the life of the company's founder, Alonzo Franklin Herndon; a reunion of Atlanta Life employees, and a founder's day parade. The celebration concludes Sept. 21 with a centennial gala.

Although the company began primarily as a life writer, its focus now extends into asset management, plus other lines of insurance. With a customer base that includes many of the nation's Fortune 100 and Fortune 500 companies, Atlanta Life has reached $16 billion in life insurance in force and $202 million in assets and comprises two operating units: Atlanta Life Insurance Co. and Atlanta Life Investment Advisors. Its commitment to the African-American community has made it the No. 1 reinsurer of group life benefits to the sector.

The company grew from a vision seen by former slave and sharecropper Herndon. He wanted to serve low- and middle-income individuals and founded Atlanta Mutual Society with a $140 investment. Company historians speculate that salesmen sold industrial insurance door-to-door at a time when, perhaps, they were the only black men passing through a southern town wearing suits and ties.

"The company was a result of African Americans not being able to buy services in mainstream America," said President and Chief Executive Officer Ronald D. Brown. "Herndon was someone who cared about economic dignity and was in the right place and had the wherewithal to do something about it."

After a few years, the company changed its name to Atlanta Life and became a small insurance association with a capital investment of $5,000. It operated at that time as a mutual assessment enterprise offering one contract--an industrial health and accident policy--that paid a small sum upon the death of a policyholder. In the early 1920s, it increased its capital stock, became a legal reserve company and joined a select group of African-American insurance companies. By 1925, it carried approximately 13% of the total $141 million of insurance held by the nation's eight leading black insurers.

Brown believes the single "knitting" factor that defines the company is its focus on a "double bottom line," consisting of both a profitable bottom line and a social bottom line focused on such areas as education, the arts and civil rights.

"Atlanta Life Financial Group speaks to providing hope, and everyone needs hope," said Brown. "The company came along at a time when that was hard to find, and it helped with some of the simplest things in life, like providing peace of mind to families worried about paying for burial expenses, and by opening doors for people and organizations to do things that they had been barred from doing in mainstream America."

Brown believes the next century will bring even more opportunities for the company to continue serving its 2 million customers. He said Atlanta Life Financial hopes to round out its offerings to a broader set of customers with more financial products and services that create value.