| Daniel P. Amos, the
top executive of AFLAC and AFLAC Inc., one of the nation’s
leading insurers, will be
 |
| Dan Amos has been chairman of AFLAC since
2001. |
the speaker for undergraduate commencement May 8.
Amos, AFLAC’s chairman and chief executive officer and a 1973
UGA graduate, will speak at a 9:30 a.m. ceremony in Sanford Stadium.
In case of bad weather, the ceremony will be moved to Stegeman Coliseum
and split into two sessions, at 9:30 and 11:30 a.m.
A decision to move will be made by 6:30 a.m. and will be announced
on Athens radio stations and posted on UGA Today (www.uga.edu/news).
Commencement for students receiving graduate degrees will be at
2:30 p.m. in Stegeman Coliseum. Leslie B. Sims, a senior official
of the Council of Graduate Schools and former vice provost and dean
of the Graduate College at the University of Iowa, will speak at
that ceremony.
The registrar’s office estimates that about 6,100 seniors
will be eligible to receive bachelor’s degrees and about 2,000
students will be eligible to receive master’s, doctoral and
specialist degrees. Final numbers won’t be known until the
conclusion of final exams on May 7.
AFLAC, based in Columbus, is a leading provider of insurance sold
at the workplace in the United States and is the largest foreign
insurance company in Japan. In some years the company has ranked
first on Fortune magazine’s
list of “The Best 100 Companies to Work For in America.”
Amos joined AFLAC in 1973 after receiving a degree in risk management
and insurance from UGA. After working in sales for 10 years, he
became president of AFLAC in 1983 and chief operating officer in
1987. He was named chief executive officer of AFLAC Inc. in 1990
and became chairman in 2001.
Amos has broadened the company’s U.S. and Japan product lines,
and during his tenure as CEO revenues have grown from $2.7 billion
to $10.2 billion annually. The company’s market capitalization
grew from $1.3 billion to more than $16.5 billion as of last July.
Amos is also responsible for launching the company’s national
advertising program that features the popular AFLAC duck.
A member of the board of directors of Synovus Financial Corp. and
the Southern Co., Amos is a trustee of Children’s Healthcare
of Atlanta and House of Mercy of Columbus. He has served as chair
of the Japan America Society of Georgia and was chair of the UGA
Foundation.
As part of the undergraduate ceremony, Mike Mannina, a graduating
senior, will speak on behalf of fellow graduates. Mannina, an Honors
Program participant who is graduating with highest honors, has been
an orientation leader and vice president of the Dean’s Council
in the Terry College of Business.
Forty-six seniors who have maintained perfect 4.0 grade point averages
during their years at UGA will be recognized as First Honor Graduates
at the undergraduate exercises.
Sims, the speaker for graduate commencement, is senior scholar in
residence and director of the external grants program for the Council
of Graduate Schools. A former member of the council’s board
of directors, he has also served on the board of the National Association
of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges and was chair of the
association’s Council on Research Policy and Graduate Education.
|
