Our History
Our Roots Run Deep
The Sammons Enterprises (SEI) story began in 1938, when Charles A. Sammons founded Reserve Life Insurance Company in Dallas, Texas. As an entrepreneur, he was a fearless risk-taker. As a businessman, he was a visionary. Mr. Sammons built an enterprise identifying and acquiring businesses in high-potential industries; an enterprise that has been strong enough to endure a world war, natural disasters, several recessions, and a global pandemic.
In the early 1950s, Mr. Sammons began to diversify the company’s operations, purchasing interests in the communications, industrial products distribution, insurance, travel and hospitality industries. Under Mr. Sammons’ leadership, his pioneering companies built success stories in each of these industries. By the 1980s, Sammons Enterprises created a conglomeration of close to 70 companies.
Mr. Sammons believed in working hard, investing for the long term, and rewarding his employees—the people who he gave credit for the success of his business. In fact, SEI’s reputation for investing in highly successful businesses actually starts with our focus on investing in our most important asset: our people.
Employee Stock Ownership Plan
A key moment in our history took place in 1978 when Mr. Sammons launched SEI’s Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP), creating a new ownership model for our employees. He believed employees would be motivated to make thoughtful, long-term business decisions if they had the opportunity to share in the value they created while working at Sammons. He also felt strongly about ensuring the growth and perpetuation of SEI after his death and knew the ESOP model was the way to accomplish that.
Mr. Sammons would pass away 10 years later in 1988, leaving the company under the leadership of his wife, Elaine Sammons. She provided the company with guidance until her death in 2009. Since the passing of Mrs. Sammons, the company has evolved, however one thing will never change: we remain committed to the philosophies of our founder, allowing his legacy to live on.
