Mutual of Omaha
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Mutual of Omaha Insurance Company | |
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| Type | Mutual |
|---|---|
| Founded | Omaha Nebraska, Nebraska, USA (1909) |
| Headquarters | Omaha, Nebraska, USA |
| Key people | Daniel P. Neary, Chairman and CEO |
| Industry | Insurance |
| Products | Health insurance Life Insurance |
| Revenue | $3.742 billion USD (2005) [[1]] |
| Net income | $121 million USD (2005) [[2]] |
| Employees | 6,000 (2007) |
| Slogan | Begin Today |
| Website | MutualofOmaha.com |
The Mutual of Omaha Insurance Company is based in Omaha, Nebraska. It has primarily sold health insurance and disability insurance; it also sells life insurance through a subsidiary company, United of Omaha. At one time it was the primary marketer of travel-accident policies sold by vending machines in U.S. airports.
The company is so well-known by the word "mutual", which describes its form of ownership, that it has had great problems doing what many other comparably-sized insurers have done in recent years, which is to "demutualize" and become a stock company which would give it access to capital markets. It has been proposed that the company be allowed to retain the name in this event and be styled, "Mutual of Omaha, A Stock Company", so that the name could not be considered to be in any way deceptive or misleading. It is also pointed out that other formerly mutually-owned companies such as Washington Mutual, a former savings and loan association, were allowed to keep this element of their name upon demutualization. Mutual of Omaha currently has no plans to demutualize and become a stock company.
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[edit] History
Mutual Benefit Health & Accident Association (original corporate name of Mutual of Omaha) filed articles of incorporation with the Nebraska Insurance Department. The charter was issued on March 5, 1909. Harry S. Weller was President, serving until 1932. In 1926 United Benefit Life Insurance Company was founded. United sold the Life Insurance line of business. In 1962 Mutual's name was officially changed to Mutual of Omaha Insurance Company. In 1981 United Benefit Life Insurance Company changed its name to United of Omaha. In 2004 Mutual of Omaha began sponsorship of Drive, Chip and Putt, the world’s largest junior golf program, organizing golf competitions for kids ages 7-14 in 100+ cities across the country. In 2006 Omaha Information Services Company was created, offering a wide range of operational risk management services and consulting.[1]
[edit] Wild Kingdom
In 1963 Mutual of Omaha introduced the television wildlife program Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom. Mutual of Omaha sponsored the original Wild Kingdom for 25 years, from 1963 to 1988; the company continued sponsorship when Wild Kingdom was revived in 2002 by cable television network Animal Planet. The company is so associated with this program that it is sometimes referred to in the insurance industry by the nickname "The Wild Kingdom" (Mutual of Omaha owns the rights to the original series). Mutual of Omaha has recognized the importance of this program as many of the people who grew up with the original series still recognize the company as being associated with the program.
[edit] Medicare
Mutual of Omaha entered the Medicare program in 1966. Since 1985 Mutual of Omaha has been a Medicare Part A Intermediary. In 2005 Mutual of Omaha and Wisconsin Physicians Service (WPS), an insurance corporation based in Madison, Wisconsin, announced a partnership agreement for future Medicare contracts. Under this agreement WPS will effectively purchase Mutual of Omaha's Medicare Part A business for an undisclosed sum. The transition is anticipated to be complete by the end of 2007.
[edit] Subsidiaries
Mutual of Omaha has multiple subsidiaries, the most recent of which come as a result of the company's push to sustain revenue growth by branching out into new lines of business.
[edit] OISC
Omaha Information Services Company was started in 2006 and specializes in Operational risk management consulting. The company currently makes use of the parent company through several means. These uses include: financial backing, name recognition, and various infrastructure components. As OISC does business with some of Mutual's competitors, OISC maintains a high degree of autonomy from the parent company. An example of this is OISC is on a completely separate network from Mutual.
[edit] Omaha Financial Holdings, Inc.
Omaha Financial Holdings, Inc. is a subsidiary that is currently in its infancy. The company's goal is to venture into the banking market. They are currently still in the planning phase and recently hired a CEO, Jeffrey Schmid.[2]
[edit] United of Omaha
United of Omaha sells life insurance policies for Mutual of Omaha. They are the least independent of the subsidiaries mentioned here and there are no plans to make them more independent.
[edit] Company Governance
[edit] President of Mutual
| 1909–1932 | Harry S. Weller |
| 1932–1949 | Dr. C.C. Criss |
| 1949–19?? | V.J. Skutt |
| 2003–2005 | Dan Neary |
[edit] Chief executive officer of Mutual
| 1964–19?? | V.J. Skutt |
| 1984–1996 | Thomas Skutt |
| 1998–2005 | John Weekly |
| 2005–present | Dan Neary |
[edit] Chairman of the board of Mutual
| 1949–1953 | Dr. C.C. Criss |
| 1953–19?? | V.J. Skutt |
| 1986–1996 | Thomas Skutt |
| 1998–2005 | John Weekly |
| 2005–present | Dan Neary |
[edit] Miscellaneous
The only Chick-fil-A in the state of Nebraska is located in Mutual of Omaha's cafeteria.
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.mutualofomaha.com/about/history.html
- ^ http://www.mutualofomaha.com/about/press/management/20070124.html
