Jennifer Thayer
HORACE MANN EDUCATORS CORP /DE/About Jennifer Thayer
Jennifer E. Thayer is Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer at Horace Mann (HMN). She joined HMN in October 2017 as Vice President of Executive Compensation & Benefits, became CHRO in March 2020, and was appointed Senior Vice President in October 2020. She previously spent 1998–2017 at COUNTRY Financial in finance and HR roles including Director, Total Rewards, and has 25+ years of insurance/financial services experience; age 49 as of March 15, 2025 . During her tenure, HMN delivered 2024 total shareholder return (TSR) of 24.1% with total revenue up 7%; 2025 year-to-date through Q3 showed net income up 94.9% and core EPS up 103.5% versus prior year, underscoring improved execution and P&C profitability restoration .
Past Roles
| Organization | Role | Years | Strategic impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| Horace Mann (HMN) | Senior Vice President & Chief Human Resources Officer | Mar 2020–Present | Executive officer responsible for human capital; member of the internal ERM Committee that briefs the Board on key risks and talent succession . |
| Horace Mann (HMN) | Vice President, Executive Compensation & Benefits | Oct 2017–Mar 2020 | Led executive compensation/benefits design and administration . |
| COUNTRY Financial | Various roles; Director, Total Rewards (most recent) | 1998–2017 | Led total rewards; prior finance/HR roles (multi-line insurance) . |
External Roles
No public company boards or external directorships disclosed for Ms. Thayer .
Fixed Compensation
Not individually disclosed for Ms. Thayer (not an NEO). HMN reviews executive officer salaries annually aligned to market medians and performance, with a philosophy to pay competitive base salaries and emphasize at-risk incentives .
Performance Compensation
HMN’s executive officers (including CHRO) participate in a pay-for-performance program consisting of an annual cash AIP and equity-based LTIP. AIP is tied to corporate results; LTIP uses multi-year relative metrics (TSR and Core ROE), with service-vested RSUs and stock options. In 2025, HMN increased PBRSU weighting and reduced options after shareholder feedback to further tighten pay-performance alignment .
| 2024 AIP (company-level) | Threshold | Target | Maximum | Actual | Result | Weight | Payout |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AIP Adjusted Core Earnings ($M) | 114 | 129 | 144 | 141 | 182.4% | 50% | 91.2% |
| AIP Adjusted ROE (%) | 7.5 | 8.5 | 9.5 | 9.3 | 182.0% | 25% | 45.5% |
| Premiums & Contract Charges Earned ($M) | 1,131 | 1,148 | 1,171 | 1,144 | 94.1% | 25% | 23.5% |
| Total | 100% | 160.2% |
| 2024 LTIP design (company-wide) | Structure | Vesting/measurement | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| PBRSUs (50% of LTIP target) | Relative TSR (50%) + relative 3-year Core ROE (50%) vs Russell 2000 insurance peers | Granted 3/6/2024; measured 1/1/2024–12/31/2026; vests 1/1/2027 if earned | +/-10% CSR modifier (Sustainability/Social/Governance scorecard) . |
| Service-vested RSUs (20%) | Time-based | 33%/33%/34% over 3 years | Dividends accrue and vest with units . |
| Stock options (30%) | Time-based | 25% per year over 4 years; 10-year term; exercise price at grant | 12-month post-exercise holding requirement . |
| 2022–2024 PBRSU outcome (for designated execs) | Relative TSR | Relative Core ROE | CSR modifier | Payout |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Result | 33.0% of target | 37.2% of target | +7% | 77.2% of target |
Key plan changes after 2024 Say-on-Pay (60.4% support): increased PBRSU weight to 60%, reduced options to 20%, and no 2025 CEO target pay increase; enhanced disclosure on goal-setting .
Equity Ownership & Alignment
| Policy/Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Stock ownership guidelines (Senior Vice President) | 200% of base salary; measured on 12-month average stock price; RSUs count, options excluded; 5 years to comply . |
| Post-exercise holding | Executives must hold net shares from option exercises for 12 months . |
| Minimum vesting | 12-month minimum vesting for all equity awards (limited exceptions) . |
| Hedging/pledging | Prohibited for all directors and executive officers . |
| Clawback | Cash and equity awards subject to recoupment under NYSE/Rule 10D-1-compliant clawback policy effective Oct 2, 2023 . |
| Initial Section 16 ownership | Form 3 (3/24/2020) disclosed 405 HMN common shares beneficially owned by Ms. Thayer at appointment as an officer . |
| 10b5-1 plans (Q3’25) | Company disclosed only one director 10b5-1 plan adoption; no other officer adopted, modified, or terminated a trading arrangement in Q3 2025 . |
Note: Individual current beneficial ownership for Ms. Thayer was not itemized in the 2025 proxy (non-NEO); aggregate ownership for all directors and executive officers as a group (16 persons) was 1,699,693 shares (4.0%) as of March 15, 2025 .
Employment Terms
- Executive Severance and Change-in-Control (CIC) Plans: Participants designated by position; CIC benefits are double-trigger (loss of position following a CIC), with no excise tax gross-ups; severance multiples apply to salary plus target bonus (company-level examples provided for NEOs) .
- Standard practice: Minimal use of individual employment agreements; succession/retirement facilitation sometimes includes tailored vesting terms for select executives (applies to CEO example) .
- ERM/Human capital governance: The CHRO sits on the internal ERM Committee that reports on enterprise risks (including talent/succession) to the Board and committees .
Investment Implications
- Alignment and retention: Strong governance around equity (12-month minimum vesting; 12-month post-exercise hold; 200% ownership target for SVP) plus clawbacks and hedging/pledging prohibitions reduce misalignment and short-termism risk for the CHRO role .
- Incentive calibration: Company AIP is tied to core earnings/ROE/premiums, and LTIP relies entirely on relative TSR and ROE with a CSR modifier, which ties human capital and DEI progress to long-term payouts; 2022–2024 PBRSUs paid below target (77.2%), demonstrating rigor .
- Selling pressure: No 10b5-1 trading plan adoptions by officers disclosed in Q3 2025; combined with ownership guidelines and holding rules, near-term insider selling pressure from the CHRO appears limited absent separate Form 4 activity (not disclosed in provided filings) .
- Execution track record context: Corporate performance improved materially in 2024–2025 (TSR +24.1% in 2024; 2025 YTD net income +94.9%), including ERM and human capital elements embedded in plan scorecards (engagement, pay equity), supportive of human-capital-driven value creation .
Data and disclosures are derived from HMN’s 2025 and 2024 DEF 14A proxies and 2025 Q3 10-Q/8-K filings; items not shown were not disclosed in these sources.