Assurant vs Johnson & Johnson: Founders, CEOs and History

Company facts

Founders

CEOs and their tenures

Timeline: Assurant and Johnson & Johnson side by side

1. 1886Johnson & Johnson

   Johnson & Johnson Founded

   Robert Wood Johnson, James Wood Johnson, and Edward Mead Johnson found the company in New Brunswick, New Jersey, with 14 employees, to mass-produce sterile surgical dressings after Robert was inspired by antiseptic pioneer Joseph Lister's 1885 warnings about i…

2. 1892Assurant

   La Crosse Mutual Aid Association formed

   Assurant traces its history to the La Crosse Mutual Aid Association, established in La Crosse, Wisconsin in 1892 to provide consumers with disability insurance. No founder of the association is named in the company own histories.

3. 1910Assurant

   Licensed as Time Insurance Company

   The Wisconsin Office of the Commissioner of Insurance records Time Insurance Company, the successor to the La Crosse Mutual Aid Association, as originally licensed as an insurer in 1910.

4. 1920Johnson & Johnson

   Band-Aid Brand Adhesive Bandages Introduced

   J&J introduces the first mass-produced adhesive bandage, sold under the Band-Aid brand starting in 1921; it becomes one of the most recognized consumer-health brands in the world before J&J later spins its consumer division out as Kenvue in 2023.

5. 1943Johnson & Johnson

   Robert Wood Johnson II Writes 'Our Credo'

   Chairman Robert Wood Johnson II authors 'Our Credo,' a one-page statement ranking the company's responsibilities to customers, employees, communities, and shareholders in that order; it remains J&J's official governing philosophy and was later cited as the bas…

6. 1944Johnson & Johnson

   J&J Goes Public

   Johnson & Johnson lists publicly, becoming an independent, market-traded company as it expands into a diversified healthcare business under Chairman Robert Wood Johnson II.

7. 1978Assurant

   N.V. AMEV of the Netherlands buys Time Insurance

   Dutch insurer N.V. AMEV acquired Time Insurance Company through its US holding company, AMEV Holdings, Inc., then expanded it by buying American Security Insurance, United Family, Western Insurance Company and Superior Insurance over the next 12 years.

8. 1982Johnson & Johnson

   Tylenol Cyanide Poisonings and Nationwide Recall

   After seven people in the Chicago area die from cyanide-laced Extra-Strength Tylenol capsules, J&J issues a nationwide recall of 31 million bottles within a week -- far beyond what investigators said was necessary -- citing Our Credo's customer-safety priority…

9. 1991Assurant

   AMEV Holdings renamed Fortis, Inc.

   After AMEV combined with VSB Groep NV in 1990 to create Fortis, the US holding company AMEV Holdings, Inc. was rebranded Fortis, Inc. in 1991. It acquired John Alden in 1998.

10. 1999Assurant

    Fortis acquires American Bankers Insurance

    Fortis, Inc. bought American Bankers Insurance Group of Miami, adding credit insurance and specialty warranty underwriting that became the core of the modern specialty lines. Fortis sold its life insurance business to The Hartford in 2001.

11. 2004Assurant

    NYSE listing as Assurant, Inc.

    Fortis took the US business public on February 5, 2004 in a $1.76 billion initial public offering, the fourth largest of that year, and renamed it Assurant, Inc. The company was incorporated as a Delaware corporation in 2004 and trades as AIZ.

12. 2006Assurant

    Robert B. Pollock succeeds J. Kerry Clayton as CEO

    Founding chief executive J. Kerry Clayton retired on March 17, 2006 and was succeeded by Robert B. Pollock, then president and chief operating officer, who also joined the board that day.

13. 2012Johnson & Johnson

    Alex Gorsky Becomes CEO

    Gorsky succeeds William Weldon as CEO amid a period of manufacturing-quality recalls, and spends the next decade restoring J&J's operational reputation while expanding the pharmaceutical and MedTech businesses and developing a single-dose COVID-19 vaccine duri…

14. 2013Assurant

    New York consent order on force-placed insurance

    Assurant, American Security Insurance Company and American Bankers Insurance Company of Florida settled a New York Department of Financial Services investigation into force-placed homeowners insurance on March 21, 2013, paying a $14 million penalty plus homeow…

15. 2015Assurant

    Exit from health insurance and employee benefits

    On June 10, 2015 Assurant announced it would leave the health insurance marketplace and wind down Assurant Health, and on September 9, 2015 it agreed to sell its employee benefits business to Sun Life for $940 million.

16. 2018Assurant

    The Warranty Group acquisition closes

    Assurant completed its purchase of The Warranty Group from TPG Capital on May 31, 2018 for a total enterprise value of about $2.5 billion, expanding vehicle service contracts and international retail protection. Assurant also sold Time Insurance in 2018.

17. 2020Assurant

    HYLA Mobile acquisition closes

    Assurant closed its acquisition of smartphone trade-in and upgrade provider HYLA Mobile on December 1, 2020, in a transaction the company valued at about $325 million, roughly doubling its device processing volumes.

18. 2021Assurant

    Global Preneed sold to CUNA Mutual Group

    Assurant closed the sale of its prearranged funeral and final expense business to CUNA Mutual Group on August 2, 2021 for about $1.35 billion, generating roughly $1.2 billion of net proceeds, and said it intended to return about $900 million of that through sh…

19. 2022Assurant

    Keith Demmings becomes CEO and headquarters moves to Atlanta

    Keith W. Demmings became president and chief executive officer in January 2022, succeeding Alan B. Colberg, who retired at the end of 2021 after seven years in the role.

20. 2022Johnson & Johnson

    Joaquin Duato Becomes CEO

    Duato becomes CEO in January 2022, later adding the chairman title, and begins preparing the separation of J&J's consumer-health business from its medicine and device operations.

21. 2023Johnson & Johnson

    Kenvue Separation

    J&J completes the spinoff of its consumer-health business (Band-Aid, Tylenol, Listerine, Neutrogena) as the standalone public company Kenvue, narrowing J&J around its higher-margin Innovative Medicine and MedTech segments.

22. 2024Assurant

    iSmash acquired in the United Kingdom

    Assurant acquired UK tech repair retailer iSmash on April 4, 2024, giving it 68 drop-in repair locations in the UK under the iSmash and Pocket Geek Tech Repair banners. Assurant also sold its mainland China operations during 2024.

23. 2025Assurant

    FY2025 revenue of $12.81B and the OptoFidelity purchase

    Assurant reported FY2025 revenue of $12.81 billion and GAAP net income of $872.7 million, its ninth consecutive year of profitable growth, launched Assurant Home Warranty, and in October 2025 acquired OptoFidelity mobile device test automation portfolio to add…

24. 2025Johnson & Johnson

    FY2025 Sales of $94.193B

    Johnson & Johnson reports $94.193 billion in sales and $26.804 billion in net earnings, split roughly 64% Innovative Medicine and 36% MedTech, both segments growing about 6% year over year.

25. 2025Johnson & Johnson

    Orthopaedics Separation Announced

    In October 2025 J&J announced plans to separate its orthopaedics business as a standalone company operating as DePuy Synthes, targeting completion in 2027.

26. 2026Assurant

    RL Circular Operations acquired in Australia and New Zealand

    In January 2026 Assurant acquired RL Circular Operations, formerly TIC Reverse Logistics, the reverse logistics division of Australia and New Zealand based TIC Group, extending its post-purchase and circular economy capabilities across Asia Pacific.

27. 2026Johnson & Johnson

    Proposed Talc Resolution and Raised Guidance

    J&J raised 2026 sales guidance to about $101.1 billion after Q2 sales of $25.31 billion, and on July 27, 2026 proposed an estimated $5.5 billion resolution of remaining ovarian talc claims.

Acquisitions

Questions about Assurant vs Johnson & Johnson