Starmount Life Insurance, a local arm of the publicly traded benefits giant Unum Group, is phasing out its individual insurance business, discontinuing the marketing, sales and distribution of all new individual life, vision and dental policies.
Though the company will continue to renew the policies of tens of thousands of current policyholders covered under individual plans, the company’s local leadership has decided to move away from the individual market in order to focus more on the rapid growth of its group benefits business, says company spokesman Rene Milligan.
“We have grown tremendously in the group space and have some pretty lofty goals for that side of the business,” Milligan says. “In order to achieve those goals we’re really looking to invest in the highest growth opportunities … and the group side is just a great way for us to reach more customers faster.”
Milligan could not say how many employees will be affected by the change, which was announced internally last week. However, those employees have been given an opportunity to reapply for other positions within the company.
The change is one of several that has come with the company, founded in 1990 by Hans Sternberg, since its $127 million acquisition in 2016 by the Tennessee-based Unum.
Early this year, the company’s president Deborah Sternberg, Hans Sternberg’s daughter, stepped down unexpectedly to pursue other opportunities, she said at the time.
Her brother, CEO Erich Sternberg, continues to run the company and now also serves as president.
More recently, Starmount announced it is expanding its group dental and vision coverage in dozens of market around the country through another Unum subsidiary, Colonial Life.
Because of the opportunities that expansion provides, Milligan says the company has seen where it makes the most sense to focus its resources.
“It’s not that the individual business isn’t worth it,” he says. “It’s just that for us the best way for the business to grow is through the group side.”
