THIRTY-FOUR YEARS running the same company: It's not that long, cosmically speaking, and yet today's world is in some ways unrecognizably different from 1990. The American president then was George Bush (the first one). The Soviet Union was still standing, while China was just emerging as a global superpower. The internet had barely started crawling into U.S. homes, and smartphones were decades away from upending how we all live. It was a world before Facebook, Google, Amazon, or ChatGPT.
1990 was when Aflac chairman and CEO Dan Amos started running the oddball life insurer founded by his father and two uncles. When Amos took over, his family's company was not yet "AFLAAAAC!" The TV-commercial squawking of Aflac's duck mascot, which Amos unleashed in 2000, would go on to create a pop-culture phenomenon-one that helped change how all insurance is sold.
Over those 34 years, Amos grew his family's company into a Fortune 500 fixture, with $18.7 billion in revenue last year. Its annual sales have increased sevenfold over his tenure. Its shares were trading at around $85 in late March, far beyond their (split-adjusted) 1990 value of $1.
"I've experienced it all," Amos told me recently, sitting in Aflac's blocky tower in Columbus, Ga., which his predecessors built in 1975. At age 72, he is now the fifth-longest-serving CEO of any Fortune 500 company.
(Berkshire Hathaway's 93-year-old Warren Buffett holds the longest tenure.) It's a tremendous and rare accomplishment, especially given that the average Fortune 500 CEO lasts seven years.
At several years past the traditional (and, at some companies, mandated) U.S. retirement age of 65, Amos has outlasted many of his contemporaries and seen multiple would-be successors, including his son, retire or resign.
This story is from the April - May 2024 edition of Fortune US.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the April - May 2024 edition of Fortune US.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
AI Isn't Coming for Your Job At Least Not Yet
So far, the technology has replaced only a small number of workers. But the future risks many more.
THE TRUTH EVEN HE CAN'T DUCK
Aflac's DAN AMOS has spent his 34 years as CEO selling insurance against illness and death. Now he has to confront his aging customers' mortality and his own.
THE NEW HOLLYWOOD POWER PARADIGM
Inside the sisterhood of stars changing the narrative.
SAUDI ARABIA'S POWER PIPELINE
The oil earnings flowing from the most profitable company in history are helping the Saudi kingdom shake up the global economyand the old geopolitical order.
THE [FOREVER] FOUNDER
Michael Dell turned his dorm-room PC company into the go-to hardware provider for 99% of the Fortune 500. Now the longest-standing founder-CEO in tech has a chance to cash in on the AI bbom—and make himself and his company bigger than ever.
HOW BOEING BROKE DOWN
Boeing's strategy sent the stock soaring more than 1,000% over 20 years. But it contained dangerous flaws that are only now coming into view amid a drumbeat of terrible news.
The Art of Banking
To appeal to the ultrawealthy, banks like UBS keep fine art-and art expertsclose at hand.
Is the Bitcoin Bull Market Safe to Buy?
ETFs have made Bitcoin investing easier than ever. But they may be adding air to a bubble.
Goodbye, Tough Guy
More executives are going on all-male retreats to open up, feel less lonely, and build empathy.
Memo to Silicon Valley: Bring It On
New York City's Runway was the pioneering leader in Al-generated video for years. Now ChatGPT maker OpenAl is coming for it.