Insurance executive Louis Lower, the longtime chief executive at Horace Mann Educators Corp. (HMN), was placed on leave by the insurer's board of directors after they learned he was in jail.

The board suspended Lower this weekend, at least three days after he began serving time in a Florida county jail. He was given a 60-day sentence on Sept. 8 after being charged over Memorial Day weekend in late May with a misdemeanor count of driving under the influence that caused property damage or personal injury, according to records on the website of the Indian River County Sheriff's Office.

Lower alerted fellow executives at Horace Mann to the charge in mid-July, said Richard Madden, a spokesman for the insurer. It wasn't until Sept. 9 that the board was alerted to Lower's imprisonment and a weekend board session arranged.

The insurer, which sells car, home and life insurance to primary- and secondary-school teachers, said Lower was involved in a traffic accident with another vehicle. The accident, in Vero Beach, Fla., led to the DUI charge. The company said the crash didn't require hospitalization of any of the parties involved.

Lower is scheduled to be released on Oct. 26, according to the Indian River County website. The insurer said he is expected to return to his job in late October or November. Chief Financial Officer Peter Heckman will serve as interim chief executive.

"There are no excuses to offer other than a lapse of personal character for which I take full responsibility," Lower said in a statement released Monday. The statement said it was Lower's first offense.

Chairman Gabriel Shaheen said in the statement that the board will consider whether to impose other disciplinary actions. But he added that the board continues to have "full confidence in the company's direction, its strategic initiatives and the progress being made on those initiatives," which were developed under Lower's leadership.

Robert Robins, a retired professor at Tulane University and an expert on executive disability and illness, said Horace Mann executives who knew of the charges had an "ethical obligation" to report to the board what they knew of the charge when they first learned of the incident. But, he said, they delay in informing the board probably wasn't illegal under U.S. securities law.

Lower has been chief executive since 2000. He was previously chief executive of Allstate Corp's (ALL) life insurance operation, and serves as a board member of mortgage insurer PMI Group Inc. (PMI). Bill Horning, a spokesman for PMI, didn't respond to messages seeking comment.

Horace Mann shares closed at $17.78 and were inactive after hours. The stock was up 42% this year as of the close of trading Monday.

-By Erik Holm and Leslie Scism, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2892; erik.holm@dowjones.com

(Kathy Shwiff contributed to this article.)
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