Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the 2021 annual meeting of shareholders of The Hanover Insurance Group Incorporated. I would now like to introduce Ms. Cynthia Egan, Chair of the Board of The Hanover Insurance Group and the presiding officer for this meeting. Ms. Egan, you may now commence the meeting.
Thank you. Good morning. My name is Cynthia Egan. I am Chair of the company's Board of Directors. Thank you for your participation in the meeting this morning. Also present at the meeting are the other independent directors of the Board and Jack Roche, President and Chief Executive Officer, and a director of the company. As Chair, I will serve as presiding officer and lead the formal part of our meeting this morning. After we have concluded the formal part of the meeting, Jack will provide a brief presentation. We will have an opportunity for you to submit questions and comments. This year, due to the ongoing public health situation caused by COVID-19, we are holding our meeting in an online virtual format to ensure the health and safety of all participants.
We adopted a digital format for the meeting to provide a consistent and convenient experience to all shareholders, regardless of location. Even though we are holding this year's meeting virtually, as a shareholder, you are still able to vote your shares and participate in the meeting. We are also transmitting the audio portion of our meeting and the slides through a webcast posted on our website for the benefit of interested listeners. At this time, I call the meeting to order. In addition to Jack and me, the other directors attending the virtual meeting are Kevin Bradicich, Theo Bunting, Jane Carlin, Paul Condrin, Kevin Condron, Dan Henry, Marta Hughes, Wendell Knox, Kathy Lane, Joe Ramrath, and T. Taggart. Also present for the meeting are Dennis Kerrigan, the company's General Counsel, and Chuck Cronin, the company's Corporate Secretary. Dennis and Jack have been designated as proxies for this meeting.
In the unlikely event that I encounter technical difficulties, Dennis or Chuck is designated to serve as presiding officer in my place and to lead the formal part of the meeting. The company's tabulation agent, Mediant Communications, has delivered an affidavit of mailing establishing that notice of this meeting was duly given. The notice, along with the proxy statement for the meeting, were first mailed to shareholders on March 26, 2021. A copy of the notice of meeting and the affidavit of mailing will be filed with the minutes of this meeting. All shareholders of record at the close of business on March 15, 2021 are entitled to vote at this meeting. A representative from Mediant is participating in the meeting and has been appointed Inspector of Elections. The inspector has informed me that the company has received valid proxies representing a majority of the outstanding shares.
Accordingly, a quorum is present. The board has proposed three items for consideration, discussion, and voting, all of which are set forth in the company's proxy statement. They are as follows. Item number one: election of directors. T. Taggart has been nominated to serve for a two-year term, and Kevin Bradicich, Paul Condrin, Kathy Lane, and I have each been nominated to serve for a three-year term. Item number two: consideration of an advisory vote on executive compensation, the so-called Say on Pay vote. Item number three: the ratification of the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP , as the independent registered public accounting firm of the company for 2021. At this time, I would like to ask for a motion with respect to each of the proposals.
Moved.
Representatives of PricewaterhouseCoopers are also attending today's virtual meeting and will be available for questions during the discussion period. I would now like to open the floor for shareholders to submit any questions on the specific proposals that are now before this meeting. You can do so by typing your questions and clicking Submit in the Q&A submission box for the meeting. A member of management will read any proper questions relating to these specific proposals to this meeting. Following the submission of any questions and discussion, we will invite any shareholders who wish to vote in person to use the voting portal via the link that was included with the information for the meeting. If you are a shareholder of record as of March 15, 2021 and have a question regarding these three proposals, please submit them now.
Please also include your name and indicate whether you are a shareholder or hold a valid proxy as part of your submission. If you have questions or comments about matters other than these proposals or wish to propose other matters, time will be allowed in just a few minutes. We'll now pause to see if any questions are submitted.
Ms. Egan, there are no questions regarding the proposals at this time.
If there is no further discussion regarding the proposals set forth in the company's proxy statement, I declare that the polls are now open for receipt of votes by electronic ballot. If you are either a shareholder of record or hold a valid proxy and you want to change your vote or vote for the first time, you may do so now. If you have already submitted your proxy in advance of the meeting and do not desire to change your vote, there is no need to cast a ballot. The proxies will vote your shares in the manner that you have directed. To submit a vote, please use the link that was provided to you in the email that you received this morning that contained the details for accessing and voting at the meeting.
If you registered multiple positions in which to vote, you will need to vote each position individually by using the link provided in each email that you received. In order to allow ample time for voting, if you do wish to vote at this time, please let us know by typing, "I wish to vote," in the Q&A box and clicking Submit. We'll pause for a few moments to see if there are any additional voting submissions.
We have not received any requests to vote. You may proceed with the meeting.
I declare the polls closed for voting. Please allow us a moment to determine the voting results.
Thank you, Ms. Egan. The final voting results are consistent with the preliminary voting results that I shared with you in advance of the meeting.
Thank you. I have been informed by the Inspector of Elections that each of the nominees for election to the board of directors has been duly elected. The advisory proposal on Say on Pay has been approved, as has the proposal regarding our independent auditors, in each case by more than 90% of shares voting. Before we close the formal part of the meeting and move to management presentation and session for questions, is there any other business to properly come before the meeting? Again, there will be time for questions in just a few minutes. As a reminder, to bring any proper business before the meeting, please type your submission and click the submit button in the Q&A box for the meeting. A member of management will read any submission of proper business to the meeting.
We'll now pause for a moment to see if there are any additional proposals or questions.
There are no proposals at this time, Ms. Egan.
Thank you. Before closing out this formal part of the meeting, I'd like to take a moment to recognize a member of the board who today is completing his long and distinguished service to The Hanover. On behalf of all the members of the board, I want to thank Kevin Condron for his guidance, leadership, and service to the organization over the past 23 years. Kevin joined The Hanover's board in 2007 and was elected chair in 2017, serving in that role with distinction until late last year. He led the board as the company managed through a significant and successful transformation as Jack Roche was appointed President and CEO, when the company sold Chaucer, its international specialty business, in 2018, and as the company refocused its strategy solely on the U.S. insurance business. Kevin has served on every committee of the board, including as chair of the compensation committee.
There is no further business on the agenda, the formal portion of the meeting is adjourned, and we will now turn to management presentation, followed by questions or comments. His service here dates back to the late 1990s, when he was a trustee of several entities affiliated with the organization's former life insurance and variable annuity business. He has a long, impactful history of governance with the company, where he has been an outstanding professional, a mentor, and a true guiding light and inspiration to the board and management. Kevin, we thank you, and we wish you all the best for the future. I'd like to now introduce Jack Roche, our President and CEO of The Hanover.
Thank you, Cynthia. Good morning. Welcome to all. I am pleased this morning to offer some perspective on our company's competitive position, strategic focus, and prospects, put our recent performance into context, and to update you on our mission to be the premier franchise in the independent agency channel, a company that delivers value for its shareholders, customers, agents, employees, communities, and other stakeholders. Before I provide an update on our company, on behalf of all of us at The Hanover, I want to acknowledge the toll COVID-19, economic challenges, social injustice, and political polarization have taken on many of us and to convey that our thoughts are with you, our shareholders, as well as our customers, agent partners, and all who have suffered through these very difficult times.
As our country continues its fight against the coronavirus and to address the issues of racial inequality and divisive politics, we are hopeful and optimistic that we will progress towards better health and a more united and just nation. As an organization, we are committed to doing what we can, through our business and in the communities we call home, to help people in need and to lead by example in these unsettled times. 2020 was a year of unprecedented challenge for our country, a year defined in many ways by tremendous uncertainty, personal sacrifice, hardship, and loss, but also by dedication and determination, collaboration, ingenuity, generosity, and heroism.
It was a year of unparalleled challenge by our company as well, one marked by the pandemic, dramatic economic volatility, unusually bad weather, and civil and political unrest, but also one in which we strengthened our business on every dimension. In the face of great adversity, our team rose to the occasion in 2020, as we always do, continuing to adapt, innovate, and thrive, positioning our company to deliver even greater value for you and our other stakeholders going forward, providing high-quality, innovative, and responsive insurance solutions for our agents and customers, delivering significant value for our shareholders, being a responsible corporate citizen, and making a meaningful difference in communities across the country. As we work to take our company to the next level, we do so from a position of strength.
Today, our company is in excellent financial condition, able to withstand economic and market pressures while investing for the future. We have a proven and unique business strategy with great potential. We have broad, deep, and mutually beneficial partnerships with many of the best agents in the industry. We have the talent, organizational focus, and drive needed to continue to deliver superior results. Despite the many challenges, we delivered strong earnings and top-quartile returns during 2020, validating the effectiveness of our business strategy and our disciplined approach to financial and risk management. On the year, we delivered after-tax operating income of $9.32 per diluted share, up 14% from $8.16 per share in 2019. An operating ROE of 13.1%, which was top quartile for the industry. Modest growth in net premiums written in spite of the consequences of stay-at-home orders, the economic downturn, and premium refunds to auto policyholders.
We had sustained expense discipline, achieving our cost management and efficiency objectives. Their strong underwriting performance, with a combined ratio of 94.4%, improved from 95.6% in 2019. Value for our shareholders through an increase in our ordinary dividend for the 15th consecutive year, the repurchase of 2.2 million shares of our common stock, and our efforts to capitalize on the low interest rate environment to refinance certain higher coupon debt and to issue $300 million in senior debt.
We also continued to make important strategic progress during the year, expanding our unique distribution capability with the selective addition of nearly 240 new agent appointments across personal lines and small commercial, investing in our proven personal, core commercial, and specialty lines business models, investing in innovation, data and analytic capabilities, specialized and responsive products and services, proactively managing our business mix by product type, line of business, and geography, and thoughtfully managing our capital, redeploying it in our business and creating value for our shareholders. We continued to build positive momentum in the first quarter of this year. Overall, we delivered strong results, especially in light of the very significant weather-related catastrophe activity. We generated excellent growth with net written premiums of 5.2%, or slightly above our original expectations and approaching pre-COVID levels.
Reported after-tax operating income of $1.66 per share, in spite of the pre-tax cat losses of $133 million, driven by severe once-in-a-century winter weather experienced in the South during February. Delivered a strong underwriting performance, as evidenced by our 87.3% ex-cat combined ratio. We also continued to improve our retention rates and get more rate across the board in the quarter, which will pay dividends going forward. With a strong financial foundation and a talented and experienced team in place, we continued during 2020 to evolve our business strategy and our vision to be the premier property and casualty franchise in the independent agency channel. We've doubled down on the efforts we have made over the last several years to bring a more customer-centric orientation to our firm.
While many of our competitors bring a more traditional product-centered approach to highly price-sensitive and commoditized segments of our fragmented industry, we have focused on serving our customers more holistically. With our focus on customer needs and solutions, we bundle two or more coverages to provide broader, better-coordinated insurance protection, more efficiently serving our customers, especially those with more complex insurance needs, those who value the advice and experienced counsel our agents offer, and who benefit from more complete insurance coverage. Our full account approach in personal lines provides protection for a primary residence, second home or getaway, recreational vehicles, watercraft, and jewelry, as well as umbrella coverage and more. This strategy has been further enhanced by our popular Hanover Prestige offering and represents excellent growth potential.
In core commercial and specialty lines, we offer broad industry specialization, underwriting expertise, and flexible insurance solutions, along with retail offerings for small and midsize businesses with very specific coverage needs. Our core commercial and specialty businesses combine their capabilities through our Total Hanover initiative, providing our clients with an even wider range of solutions and comprehensive protection. Our customer-centric full account approach gives us a distinct competitive advantage, enabling us to write high-margin, higher-retention business. Our account focus positions our agents and our company to generate above-average growth, writing higher-quality business while providing our customers with more complete coverage and a better, more convenient customer experience. Our company adapted well to the challenges of 2020, anticipating evolving market conditions and responding in ways that served our partners' and customers' interests.
As the pandemic quickly spread across the country in March, we transitioned to a remote business model, increasing our agency outreach, continuing to provide high-quality insurance solutions, and helping our partners respond to their customers' needs. Our ability to adjust to rapidly changing market conditions was critical to our success in 2020. At the same time, we took our commitment to innovate across the value chain to a whole new level. We added self-service portals and platforms to address emerging agent and customer needs, ramped up our digital and virtual capabilities, and made enhancements to our customer acquisition process, underwriting, and product and service offerings. The investments we made range from quote and issue capabilities in our personal and commercial lines businesses to claims and service enhancements to standalone product and risk management solutions.
These innovative solutions and capabilities enable us to address our customers' changing needs and position our company to deliver sustainable, profitable growth going forward. Over the past decade, we have established our company as a true industry leader, thriving in our business as a leading employer and as a responsible corporate citizen. Our efforts to develop a unique, caring, and collaborative culture across our organization have been well recognized, with our ranking amongst the best places to work by Forbes magazine, the Human Rights Campaign, and the social media platform Fairygodboss. We also are proud of the progress we have made on our journey to be a more inclusive and diverse organization. We fully recognize the value an inclusive and diverse workforce makes in fostering engagement, instilling an innovation, customer-centered mindset, and driving superior results.
During 2020, our board of directors elected Cynthia Egan as one of the very few female board chairs of leading public companies. That proud accomplishment is a reflection of her vast business and leadership experience and is a direct result of a concerted effort over the past decade to develop a diverse board. We also advanced inclusion and diversity initiatives across the organization, added to underrepresented populations among our leadership team, expanded employee-led business resource groups that support women and members of underrepresented populations, and published our inaugural Inclusion & Diversity Report, hosting it on our company website. In addition, we delivered our commitment to be a socially responsible organization, protecting our environment, making a positive and lasting difference in the communities where we live and work, and governing our actions with integrity.
Throughout the year, we promoted sustainability across our facilities and businesses and incorporated environmental, social, and governance factors into the investment analysis we undertake as we invest our assets. We also extended our long-established commitment to community building, supporting employee volunteerism, making contributions to address a wide range of community needs, joining our employees to contribute $1.5 million to United Way and hundreds of local nonprofit organizations to benefit individuals and families in need across the country, and increasing our contribution to The Hanover Insurance Group's Foundation, which provides funding for its charitable endeavors. As we reflect on 2020, we take great pride in all we have accomplished. As we look forward, we are confident our company is well-positioned to compete and win. We are prepared for the challenges in front of us and excited about our prospects.
We are determined to continue to adapt, innovate, and thrive, enhancing our competitive position in delivering superior value for you, our shareholders, and for all of our stakeholders. Thank you.
Thank you, Jack, for your presentation and your outstanding leadership by you and your team. I'd now like to ask the Corporate Secretary if there are any appropriate questions following Jack's presentation.
Miss Egan, we've received only one question submitted during the meeting, and that question will be addressed through a direct outreach to the shareholder following the meeting due to the nature of the question.
All right. Thank you very much. In closing, I would just like to thank our shareholders for their investment and trust in The Hanover. We will now close the meeting.
This now concludes The Hanover Insurance Group 2021 Annual Meeting of Shareholders. You may disconnect from the meeting. Thank you. Have a nice day.