TICKER - Sitting Duck? Aflac CEO Amos Opens Pay To Review

Aflac chairman and CEO Dan Amos was puzzled when he received a shareholder proposal last fall from activist investor Boston Common Asset Management asking that Aflac -- the insurance company that features the quacking duck in its TV commercials -- give shareholders a nonbinding vote on executive compensation. "At first, I wanted to know if we had done something wrong," Amos recalls. After BCAM assured him that it had no problem with Aflac's pay-for-performance policy, and following consultations with company executives and directors, Amos decided to move on the proposal. He implemented a new, "say on pay" policy. Beginning in 2009 -- the first year that proxy statement pay tables will contain three years of data filed under new SEC disclosure rules -- shareholders will be able to vote on the full compensation for Aflac's highest-earning execs. Asked why Columbus, Georgia­based Aflac was one of the companies singled out for this measure, given that it is not generally in the crosshairs of shareholder activists, the CEO asserts: "I'm convinced this is where the Aflac duck came in. We're a company with name recognition." In 2006, Amos earned $14.1 million in salary and equity-related sources, plus an additional $5.5 million from exercising stock options.