National Life Group Forms Strategic Partnership
with Keane Inc. To Manage Information Technology

(January 14, 2004) National Life Group announced today that it has formed a strategic partnership with Keane Inc., a leading business and information technology outsourcing firm, to manage its application support and development operations.

National Life signed a ten-year, $137 million contract with Keane and company officials project savings of approximately $20 million in the first five years of the engagement, through improved operational efficiencies, enhanced IT performance and lower costs. Keane, which is headquartered in Boston, will support the engagement with on-site teams at National Life’s headquarters in Montpelier as well as at its Advanced Development Center in India.

According to terms of the contract, National Life will retain responsibility for the strategic direction of its information technology while Keane will assume responsibility for day-to-day management of the company’s systems, applications and supporting infrastructure.

“In order to continue our profitable growth and remain competitive, it’s imperative that we focus our resources on what we do best — delivering valuable financial products and services to our customers,” said Thomas H. MacLeay, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of National Life Group. “By strategically partnering with Keane, we are creating opportunity for our business units, employees, distributors and customers, as we become a more agile and efficient organization, better equipped to meet the needs of our customers in a rapidly changing environment.”

Under the agreement, 158 National Life employees from the information systems and technology areas will have the opportunity to transition to Keane employment, supporting various National Life projects in Montpelier. This strategy not only ensures continuity and retained intellectual property for National Life, but also offers employees career development opportunities within the Keane organization. Employment will be guaranteed for a minimum of 90 days, company officials said, and Keane has committed to maintain a solid core group of positions working on the National Life engagement for the duration of the contract.

With the signing of this contract, Keane is actively exploring opportunities to utilize local resources for additional client work as part of a Montpelier-based Solution Center that would deliver information technology services from Vermont to a variety of other Keane customers.

“We’re very excited about the strategic partnership we have formed with Keane and are confident that it will help assure National Life’s continuing strength in a very competitive industry,” MacLeay said. “And we’re also excited about the potential of the Solutions Center, not only as a possible employer for some of our transitioned employees, but as a new enterprise that could result in the creation of additional technology and consulting positions here in Montpelier.”

Keane President and CEO Brian Keane concurred with MacLeay’s assessment of the agreement signed today. “As corporations seek to reduce costs, improve business and IT effectiveness and increase flexibility, they are increasingly looking at a combination of outsourcing and global delivery as tools to help achieve those goals,” he said. “National Life Group is an example of a forward thinking organization that recognizes the business value that outsourcing can deliver.”

Keane, Inc., (NYSE:KEA) is a publicly traded, Boston-based firm founded in 1965 and is dedicated to helping organizations improve business operations and IT effectiveness by delivering a broad range of business consulting and outsourcing services designed to achieve near term and sustainable business benefit.

National Life Group is a diversified family of financial services companies, made up of its flagship National Life Insurance Company (founded in Montpelier in 1850) as well as NL Capital Management Company, the Sentinel companies, Equity Services, Inc., National Financial Services Inc., and National Plan Advisors Inc. all of Montpelier; Life Insurance Company of the Southwest of Dallas, Texas, and American Guaranty & Trust Company of Wilmington, Delaware.