Richard L. Williams Jr. Joins Aflac as Executive Vice President, Chief Distribution Officer

COLUMBUS, Ga., Sept. 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Aflac Incorporated (NYSE: AFL) announced today that it has hired Rich Williams as executive vice president and chief distribution officer, reporting to Teresa L. White, president of Aflac U.S. In this newly created role, Williams will be responsible for growth of the business through leading the fully aligned distribution team of career agents and brokerage professionals. He will work closely with the key leaders of the career and broker distribution teams to capitalize on Aflac's strategic growth objectives in the U.S.

Williams' career is well balanced with an emphasis on business strategy combined with strong execution developing into consistent positive results. Prior to joining Aflac, he was senior vice president and general manager, Stop Loss, at Unum, U.S., and senior vice president, Growth Markets at Colonial Life and Accident Insurance Company. He also held various positions of increasing responsibility with Strategic Resource Company (an Aetna Company) and began his career as an actuary with William M. Mercer Inc. In previous positions throughout his career, Williams was responsible for strategically delivering double-digit sales growth in key sectors of the business, while teams under his leadership produced consistent sales gains in both the traditional agency and brokerage distribution markets. He has also successfully led a number of strategic distribution partnerships as well as enrollment technology and product development initiatives. Williams earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Wofford College and a Master of Arts degree from Wake Forest University. He also earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree from the University of South Carolina. He is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries and member of the American Academy of Actuaries.

"All of us at Aflac are delighted to have Rich onboard in this key, strategic role. The development of this new position is part of the planned natural evolution of Aflac U.S. strategy. This will enable Aflac U.S. to continue to focus on the alignment and growth of its current distribution model as well as developing further distribution as part of its strategic plan and as markets naturally evolve. Rich's expertise will be critical as we continue to develop and implement our sales strategy. He brings a wealth of experience to the position that will serve all of our stakeholders well," said Teresa White, president of Aflac U.S.

"I look forward to working with our distribution teams to help propel growth in Aflac's U.S. sales," Williams said. "Relying on our strength as the market leader, we will harness the power of the Aflac sales organization and tremendous brand to expand delivery of our much-needed products to more consumers."

About Aflac
When a policyholder gets sick or hurt, Aflac pays cash benefits fast. For six decades, Aflac insurance policies have given policyholders the opportunity to focus on recovery, not financial stress. In the United States, Aflac is the leader in voluntary insurance sales at the worksite. Through its trailblazing One Day Pay^SM initiative, Aflac U.S. can receive, process, approve and disburse payment for eligible claims in one business day. In Japan, Aflac is the leading provider of medical and cancer insurance and insures 1 in 4 households. Aflac insurance products help provide protection to more than 50 million people worldwide. For 11 consecutive years, Aflac has been recognized by Ethisphere as one of the World's Most Ethical Companies. In 2017, Fortune magazine recognized Aflac as one of the 100 Best Companies to Work for in America for the 19th consecutive year and in 2017 included Aflac on its list of Most Admired Companies for the 16th time. Aflac Incorporated is a Fortune 500 company listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol AFL. To find out more about Aflac and One Day Pay^SM, visit aflac.com or aflac.com/espanol.

Forward-looking Information
The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides a "safe harbor" to encourage companies to provide prospective information, so long as those informational statements are identified as forward-looking and are accompanied by meaningful cautionary statements identifying important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those included in the forward-looking statements. We desire to take advantage of these provisions. This report contains cautionary statements identifying important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected herein, and in any other statements made by Company officials in communications with the financial community and contained in documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Forward-looking statements are not based on historical information and relate to future operations, strategies, financial results or other developments. Furthermore, forward-looking information is subject to numerous assumptions, risks and uncertainties. In particular, statements containing words such as "expect," "anticipate," "believe," "goal," "objective," "may," "should," "estimate," "intends," "projects," "will," "assumes," "potential," "target", "outlook" or similar words as well as specific projections of future results, generally qualify as forward-looking. Aflac undertakes no obligation to update such forward-looking statements. We caution readers that the following factors, in addition to other factors mentioned from time to time, could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated by the forward-looking statements: difficult conditions in global capital markets and the economy; exposure to significant interest rate risk; concentration of business in Japan;  foreign currency fluctuations in the yen/dollar exchange rate; failure to execute or implement the conversion of the Japan branch conversion to a legal subsidiary ; limited availability of acceptable yen-denominated investments; deviations in actual experience from pricing and reserving assumptions; ability to continue to develop and implement improvements in information technology systems; governmental actions for the purpose of stabilizing the financial markets; interruption in telecommunication, information technology and other operational systems, or a failure to maintain the security, confidentiality or privacy of sensitive data residing on such systems; ongoing changes in our industry; failure to comply with restrictions on patient privacy and information security; extensive regulation and changes in law or regulation by governmental authorities; defaults and credit downgrades of our investments; ability to attract and retain qualified sales associates and employees; decline in creditworthiness of other financial institutions; subsidiaries' ability to pay dividends to Aflac Incorporated; decreases in our financial strength or debt ratings;  inherent limitations to risk management policies and procedures; concentration of our investments in any particular single-issuer or sector;  differing judgments applied to investment valuations; ability to effectively manage key executive succession; significant valuation judgments in determination of amount of impairments taken on our investments; catastrophic events including, but not necessarily limited to, epidemics, pandemics, tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis, acts of terrorism and damage incidental to such events; changes in U.S. and/or Japanese accounting standards; loss of consumer trust resulting from events external to our operations; increased expenses and reduced profitability resulting from changes in assumptions for pension and other postretirement benefit plans; level and outcome of litigation; failure of internal controls or corporate governance policies and procedures; and other risks and uncertainties described from time to time in Aflac Incorporated's filings with the SEC.

Analyst and investor contact – David A. Young, 706.596.3264 or 800.235.2667, FAX 706.324.6330, or dyoung@aflac.com 

Media contact – Jon Sullivan, 706.763.4813 or jsullivan@aflac.com 

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SOURCE Aflac Incorporated