Frederic J. Simard (pictured), who has overseen Aflac’s US finances and operations since 2023, will become president of Aflac US on January 1, 2027, as the company executes a planned leadership transition across both its US and Japan divisions.
Simard joined Aflac US in September 2023 as senior vice president and chief financial officer and was promoted to executive vice president and chief operating officer in January 2025. He was then named deputy president in early 2026. Before Aflac, he spent more than 13 years at MetLife across group insurance roles including CFO for national accounts, then served as CFO and chief actuary for employee benefits at Guardian Life before a brief role as CFO of GE’s North American life and health division in 2022.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in actuarial sciences from Université Laval and is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries.
Simard takes the presidency at a specific moment in Aflac US’s performance cycle. Aflac US’s new annualized premium sales rose 2.6% year over year to $349 million in Q2 2026, driven by group voluntary benefits and network dental and vision products. But a 220-basis-point increase in the benefit ratio to 49.5%, driven largely by higher group disability claims, pushed pretax adjusted earnings down 4.6% from the prior year. The tension between distribution growth and claims cost management is the operating reality he inherits.
Simard’s combined CFO and COO tenure gave him direct visibility into both sides of the business. Aflac frames the promotion as the outcome of long-term succession planning overseen by the insurer’s board.
Aflac also announced the promotion of Shinsuke Morimoto from deputy president to president of Aflac Japan, while Masatoshi Koide moves to chairman of Aflac Japan. Charles D. Lake II becomes executive advisor of Aflac Japan and chairman of Aflac International.
