HORACE MANN EDUCATORS CORP DE

Important Notice Regarding the Availability of Proxy Materials for the Shareholder Meeting to Be Held on Wednesday, May 22, 2024. The Proxy Statement and Annual Report on Form 10-K (Proxy Materials) are available at proxyvote.com.

This Proxy Statement is furnished in connection with the solicitation by the Board of Directors (Board) of Horace Mann Educators Corporation (HMEC, Company or Horace Mann) of proxies (that is, the authority to vote shares) from holders of the Company’s common stock, par value $.001 per share (Common Stock). The proxies will be voted at the Annual Meeting of Shareholders to be held on Wednesday, May 22, 2024 at 9:00 a.m. Central Daylight Saving Time via live webcast at www.virtualshareholdermeeting.com/HMN2024 and at any adjournment or postponement thereof (Annual Meeting).

The mailing address of the Company is 1 Horace Mann Plaza, Springfield, Illinois 62715-0001 (telephone number 217-789-2500). This Proxy Statement, Notice of Internet Availability of Proxy Materials and the proxy card are first being made available to Shareholders of the Company (Shareholders) on or about April 9, 2024.

The Board has fixed the close of business on March 26, 2024 as the record date (Record Date) for determining the Shareholders entitled to receive notice of and to vote at the Annual Meeting. At the close of business on the Record Date, an aggregate of 40,937,582 shares of Common Stock were issued and outstanding, each share entitling the holder thereof to one vote on each matter to be voted upon at the Annual Meeting. The presence, including by proxy, of the holders of a majority of the voting power of such issued and outstanding shares entitled to vote at the Annual Meeting is necessary to constitute a quorum for the transaction of business at the Annual Meeting. The Company, through bankers, brokers or other persons, also intends to make a solicitation of beneficial owners of Common Stock.

At the Annual Meeting, Shareholders will be asked to: (1) elect nine Directors named in the Proxy Statement to hold office for one-year terms continuing until the next Annual Meeting of Shareholders and until their respective successors have been duly elected and qualified; (2) approve the First Amendment to the Horace Mann Educators Corporation 2010 Comprehensive Executive Compensation Plan as amended and restated; (3) approve the advisory resolution to approve Named Executive Officers’ (as defined on page 24 below) compensation; and (4) ratify the appointment of KPMG LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, as the Company’s auditors for the year ending December 31, 2024.

Shareholders may also be asked to consider and take action with respect to such other matters as may properly come before the Annual Meeting.

Copies of the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended Dec. 31, 2023 (Annual Report), including the Company’s audited consolidated financial statements, were made available to known Shareholders on or about February 27, 2024.

Statements included in this document that are not historical in nature, including statements regarding our environmental and other sustainability plans and goals, are forward-looking within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties. Horace Mann is not under any obligation to (and expressly disclaims any such obligation to) update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Please refer to the Company's Annual Report for the year ended December 31, 2023 and the Company's past and future filings and reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for information concerning the important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements. Any standards of measurement and performance made in reference to our environmental, social, governance and other sustainability plans and goals are developing and based on assumptions, and no assurance can be given that any such plan, initiative, projection, goal, commitment, expectation, or prospect can or will be achieved. Website references throughout this document are provided for convenience only, and the content on the referenced websites is not incorporated by reference into this document.

Unless otherwise noted, the historical financial information contained in this document is before implementation of Financial Accounting Standards Board’s Accounting Standard Update 2018-12 Financial Services - Insurance: Targeted Improvements to the Accounting for Long-Duration Contracts (LDTI). Measures marked with * the first time they are presented within this document are not based on accounting principles generally accepted in the U.S. (non-GAAP). An explanation of these measures is contained in the Glossary of Selected Terms included as Exhibit 99.1 in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC and are reconciled to the most directly comparable measures prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the U.S. (GAAP) in the Appendix to the Company’s Fourth Quarter 2023 Investor Supplement.