amarillo chamber of commerce - HPN Books

WESTERNNATIONAL LIFEAbove: The Western National Life building,shown here in 1979 is a prominentlandmark at the corner of East TenthAvenue and Taylor Street.Right: The Western National Life businessoffice in the 1940s featured manualtypewriters and dial telephones.Opposite, top: The Western National Lifebuilding in Amarillo, is located at205 East Tenth Avenue.Opposite, bottom: Today, Western NationalLife offices have evolved into a morecontemporary environment.In 1944, Earl and Wayne O’Keefe, twobrothers from Pampa, saw the need for alocally based insurance company to assureborrowers that payments on their loanswould continue in the event of sickness,death or disability. Little did they know thatPalo Duro Insurance Company would growto become Western National Life, one of thenation’s leading fixed annuity providers.In 1948 the O’Keefesrenamed their insurancecompany Western Nationaland moved the companyto its present location inAmarillo. By 1959 the companyhad grown to $4.5million in assets and morethan $100 million of lifeinsurance in force. Whenthe company started sellingannuities in the 1970s, thegrowth skyrocketed.One of the most popularretirement investment vehiclesin America today, an annuity is a deferredsavings vehicle that provides for retirementincome. The company pioneered tax shelteredannuities, primarily for nonprofit employeeretirement plans, and structured settlementannuities, which are used for settling injury ordamage claims without large cash payments.A major growth spurt for Western Nationaloccurred in 1971 when the company was purchasedby Beatrice Foods, then by Beneficialin 1979, and finally by Conseco, Inc., in1985. During that time, Western Nationalbegan aggressively marketing its products,and by 1992 had reached $5.8 billion inassets. The company became one of the firstinsurance companies to develop fixed annuityproducts specifically for sale through banks.In February 1998, Western NationalCorporation completed a merger with oneof the nation’s largest diversified financialservice companies, American General, andwas renamed American General AnnuityInsurance Company. In 2001, AmericanInternational Group, Inc. (AIG) acquiredAmerican General leading to yet anothername change in 2002 to AIG AnnuityInsurance Company. Today, operating underits legacy name Western National Life andAmerican General are part of SunAmericaFinancial Group, one of the largest life insuranceand retirement services organizations inthe nation with over 19 million customersand $248.5 billion in assets under management(as of year-end 2010).For the past fifteen years, Western NationalLife has been the number one provider offixed annuity products in the bank marketplaceand has maintained its leadership positionby partnering with over 600 national andregional banks with some 77,000 financialrepresentatives. The company offers innovativeproducts tailored to the needs of conservativeinvestors who are seeking guaranteedfixed investment returns.Throughout all the growth and changesat Western National Life, two things haveremained constant: a deep love of thecommunity and the Panhandle work ethicevident in Western National’s people. Withover one thousand employees, the AmarillobasedNational Service Center is one of thelargest in the financial services industry. Inaddition to Western National Life, employeesare servicing financial products to includefixed annuities, variable annuities, and mutualfunds for multiple SunAmerica FinancialGroup companies such as VALIC, AmericanGeneral Life, and SunAmerica Life.Western National Life is committed tophilanthropic efforts in Amarillo. The company’semployees play a very active role in thecommunity, volunteering their time andmoney to support a number of deservingcharities, including United Way, Big BrothersBig Sisters, and American Cancer Society,to name a few.AMARILLO - Faces, Places & Open Spaces238