Exhibit 31.1

            Certification as adopted pursuant to Section 302 of the
                           Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002


I, Frederick H. Eppinger, Jr., certify that:


1. I have  reviewed this quarterly  report on Form  10-Q of  Allmerica Financial
Corporation;

2. Based  on  my  knowledge,  this report does  not contain any untrue statement
of a  material  fact or omit to  state a  material  fact  necessary  to make the
statements made, in light of the circumstances  under which such statements were
made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by this report;

3. Based  on  my  knowledge,  the  financial  statements,  and  other  financial
information included in this report, fairly present in all material respects the
financial  condition,  results of operations and cash flows of the registrant as
of, and for, the periods presented in this report;

4. The  registrant's  other  certifying  officers  and  I  are  responsible  for
establishing and maintaining  disclosure  controls and procedures (as defined in
Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) for the registrant and have:

a) designed such disclosure  controls and procedures,  or caused such disclosure
controls and  procedures to be designed  under our  supervision,  to ensure that
material  information  relating to the  registrant,  including its  consolidated
subsidiaries, is made known to us by others within those entities,  particularly
during the period in which this report is being prepared;

b) evaluated  the  effectiveness  of the  registrant's  disclosure  controls and
procedures and presented in this report our conclusions  about the effectiveness
of the disclosure controls and procedures as of the end of the period covered by
this report based on such evaluation; and

c) disclosed in this quarterly  report any change in the  registrant's  internal
control over the financial  reporting that occurred during the registrant's most
recent fiscal quarter that has materially  affected,  or is reasonably likely to
materially affect, the registrant's  internal control over financial  reporting;
and

5. The  registrant's  other  certifying  officers and  I  have disclosed,  based
on our most recent evaluation of internal control over financial  reporting,  to
the registrant's  auditors and the audit committee of the registrant's  board of
directors (or persons performing the equivalent functions):

a) all  significant  deficiencies  and  material  weaknesses  in the  design  or
operation of internal  control over  financial  reporting  which are  reasonably
likely  to  adversely  affect  the  registrant's  ability  to  record,  process,
summarize and report financial information; and

b) any  fraud,  whether  or not  material,  that  involves  management  or other
employees who have a significant role in the registrant's  internal control over
financial reporting.


Date: November 13, 2003




                         /s/ Frederick H. Eppinger, Jr.
                         ------------------------------
                           Frederick H. Eppinger, Jr.
                      President and Chief Executive Officer