The Galveston County Daily News

American National Insurance Co. is moving about 400 employees from its downtown island tower to offices in League City in the next 18 months in an effort to avoid business disruptions from hurricanes.

Before hurricane season, which begins June 1, the island-based company will move 200 employees to its South Shore Harbour offices. The company intends to move another 200 employees to League City before the 2010 hurricane season.

Employees targeted for the move work mostly with the public and are vital in business continuity efforts, CEO G. Richard Ferdinandtsen said.

American National sells individual and group life insurance, personal lines of property and casualty coverage, health policies and annuities. A lot of money flows in and out of the company daily. Most business is time-sensitive, and customers have to be able to reach American National employees, Ferdinandtsen said.

“If I’m dealing with authorization of bills so someone can be operated on, I can’t wait three weeks to do that,” he said.

ANICO’s Island Commitment

News of the plans comes after the company in recent months moved about 100 employees in health claims to League City and as rumors swirl about its commitment to the island.

Island businesses, especially downtown restaurants, rely heavily on American National employees.

But Ferdinandtsen said he’s been very public about his longtime efforts to protect the company’s computer systems and files from potential disasters.

American National, which has about 1,100 island employees, compared with about 1,250 before Hurricane Ike, has not laid off any employees, Ferdinandtsen said.

“I think American National supported and continues to support the community,” he said.

Before Hurricane Ike, which struck Sept. 13, about 450 American National employees worked at South Shore Harbour. About 60 percent of the company’s island employees live on the mainland, he said.

Long Time In The Making

For several years, American National was working to move key operations off the storm-prone island, Ferdinandtsen said.

The company stirred speculation last year when it purchased a San Antonio building for a call and mail center. About 60 employees work there now, with most hires from San Antonio.

Eventually, that center will employ about 300 people. The San Antonio center was meant to protect American National from major disruption of its mail. It had mail problems during Hurricane Ike, despite the new center, because only a small amount of mail had been routed there by the time the storm hit.

‘We Were Dead On’

Mail routes in Houston and Galveston were disrupted by the storm. But the hurricane proved the company needed to have a mail center away from the coast, Ferdinandtsen said.

“Turns out we were dead on,” he said.

In 2004, American National built a 53,000-square-foot data center on FM 2094 and South Shore Harbour to protect the vast amount of data and its computer systems, should a damaging hurricane blow into the island. Although League City is vulnerable to storms, it’s less so than a barrier island, Ferdinandtsen said.

Immediately after the storm, American National sent 600 of its island employees to League City until it could reopen its downtown skyscraper, which sustained flooding in its main lobby and basement. Those employees have since returned to the island, Ferdinandtsen said.