Securian Financial Brand Guidelines: An 1880 St. Paul Mutual, a 2001 Name & a 2018 Logo

A bankers’ association in St. Paul.

Securian Financial traces its start to St. Paul, Minnesota, on 6 August 1880, when Russell Dorr founded the Bankers Association of Minnesota, according to the company’s own history; English Wikipedia gives the same founder, date and city. The company says it was the first life insurance company in Minnesota. In 1901 it restructured as a mutual life insurer and took the name Minnesota Mutual Life Insurance Company, which it kept for almost a century.

The company’s timeline marks a run of firsts in its own business. It issued its first group life policy in 1917, developed its first pension plan in 1930 and, in 1956, ordered its first computer system, which the company says took up about a thousand square feet of its new headquarters. In 1959 it began offering loan cover through savings and loan associations, the root, it says, of the work it now does with credit unions. In 1971 it introduced Adjustable Life, a single policy that could be changed through different stages of life; the company describes it as the first flexible life insurance policy.

The 1980s widened the business beyond life cover. In 1984 Minnesota Mutual set up an asset-management subsidiary and a broker-dealer, Securian Financial Services, and began offering 401(k) plans; variable life and annuity products followed in 1988. In 1994 Bob Senkler began a 20-year term as chief executive, and the company developed a variable group universal life product for employers. In 1998 it adopted a mutual holding company structure and the Minnesota Life brand, and launched its first transactional website for group enrolment, the company says.

A new name in 2001, a new logo in 2018.

The Securian name arrived in 2001, when, in the company’s words, it introduced “a new name and identity” while remaining the same company. Minnesota Life stayed on as the name of its main insurer: the company’s website today names Securian Financial Group, Inc. as the parent of Minnesota Life Insurance Company and of Securian Life Insurance Company, a New York authorized insurer.

The larger brand step came in May 2018. The Pioneer Press reported on 22 May 2018 that the company was launching a marketing push with its first TV campaign, called “Every Moment Counts,” including the unveiling of a new name, “Securian Financial,” and a new company logo. The St. Paul paper said it would be the company’s first national advertising campaign, with spots from six to 60 seconds, heaviest in Minneapolis–St. Paul, Chicago, Denver and Houston. In the same four markets Securian would sponsor the Minnesota Twins, Chicago White Sox, Colorado Rockies and Houston Astros, with family-themed activities inside and outside the ballparks.

The paper also gave the reasoning. The company’s head of enterprise marketing and branding said that distributors wanted a strong brand “so they can spend less time explaining who we are,” and that people want to work for one. The company’s own timeline describes the 2018 identity as a way to “champion the rewards of putting family first.”

That family theme still frames how Securian Financial presents itself. Its stated purpose is to “build secure tomorrows,” and its website speaks to individuals, families and businesses, describing insurance and retirement products developed over more than 140 years. English Wikipedia describes the group’s offer as insurance, investment and retirement products and trust services, with clients in the United States, Puerto Rico and Canada. Its pages give St. Paul as “our home since 1880.”

How US life insurers present themselves.

American life insurers and annuity firms sell promises that run for decades, and their identities tend to say so. Many lean on steady colours, most often blues, greens and navies, set against white, with wordmarks drawn to look calm rather than playful. Symbols carry much of the meaning: shields, lighthouses, arrows, letterforms built into monograms, and in Pacific Life’s case a humpback whale, which the company has used since 1997.

The photography follows a pattern too. Consumer pages show families, couples planning retirement and people at work, while a second set of pages speaks to the financial professionals, brokers and advisers who sell most of these products. Websites are usually divided by audience, into individuals, employers, institutions and financial professionals, with sections on life cover, annuities, retirement plans and workplace benefits.

Much of the visual language is regulatory as well as decorative. Product pages carry long disclosure notes naming the issuing company and the states where a contract is offered, and many companies give a page to financial-strength ratings from agencies such as S&P Global Ratings and Moody’s, each quoted as of a stated date. Annual reports, statutory filings and investor presentations sit alongside the consumer site, and for listed groups they are often where the corporate identity is most fully set out.

The companies in this guide come from different structures: mutuals owned by their policyholders, demutualised and listed groups, spin-offs from larger insurers and businesses owned by investment firms. This guide sets out what can be checked about each one, from its founding and ownership to the symbols and lines it uses today, and gives the company’s own statements as its claims.

A mutual that stayed in St. Paul.

Securian Financial remains a mutual. Its parent, Minnesota Mutual Companies, Inc., is collectively owned by its members, and the company says no one, including management and the board, has been issued any stock; Minnesota Life is a stock subsidiary that is not publicly traded. The group has grown by acquisition: Allied Solutions, a distributor to the credit union market, in 2004; a majority stake in Asset Allocation & Management Company in 2014; Canadian Premier Life Insurance Company and its affiliates in 2017, which took the group into Canada; and Empyrean Benefit Solutions, a benefits administration and technology company, in 2019, the company’s history says. It left the retirement record-keeping business in 2022 and its retail wealth management business in 2023, and in 2023 Canadian Premier was renamed Securian Canada after the purchase of Sun Life’s Sponsored Markets business.

Chris Hilger became chief executive in 2015 and is now chairman, president and chief executive. The company says all four major rating agencies affirmed the financial strength ratings of Minnesota Life and Securian Life during 2025. St. Paul stays central to the story: in February 2026 the Pioneer Press reported that Securian Financial and the Bush Foundation had invested in a new St. Paul Downtown Investment Fund, run by a nonprofit linked to the St. Paul Downtown Alliance, and quoted Hilger saying the company had been headquartered downtown for more than 145 years.

For a design guide, Securian Financial shows how an old regional mutual can adopt a new name, give it a family-centred campaign and keep its founding city at the centre of its story. Compare Northwestern Mutual, another Midwestern mutual, and Thrivent, its neighbour across the river in Minneapolis. For this guide we use a deep navy, a warm gold and a pale stone with a sans, an unofficial interpretation; no product or logo is reproduced.

Keep Securian Financial’s identity on hand — save it to a board in the Made Good inspiration library.