Chookaszian, Banta Join Omaha National Insurance Board of Directors

Omaha National Insurance Co., a Nebraska-based provider of workers’ compensation insurance to small and mid-size businesses, has appointed Dennis Chookaszian and Geoff Banta as independent members of its board of directors.

Chookaszian is the former chairman and CEO of CNA Financial, and currently an adjunct professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He serves on the board of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange in addition to numerous other prominent board appointments for publicly traded and private companies, as well as not-for-profit organizations, including the national board for the Boy Scouts of America.

Chookaszian is a recipient of the Outstanding Directors Award from the Financial Times Outstanding Directors Exchange.

Banta is an independent consultant, focusing on the property/casualty insurance industry. In 2015 he retired from Amerisafe, a workers’ compensation company, where he served as president, chief financial officer and chief operating officer. During his 11-year tenure at Amerisafe, the company went public and saw its book value plus capital returned grow by 15.6% on an annual basis.

On Omaha National’s board, he has been appointed chairman of the audit committee.

With the appointment of Chookaszian and Banta, Omaha National’s board consists of five members, including chairperson H. Scott Silverman, founder and CEO of Agman; Jeremy Smith, principal of Agman; and Reagan Pufall, president and CEO of Omaha National.

Omaha National is a new insurance company that has grown to more than $30 million in premium after 19 months of marketing and is already generating a loss ratio significantly lower than industry average. The company employs the insurtech approach of gaining advantage through the development of proprietary software. Omaha National is expanding to become a national workers compensation insurer.

Source: Omaha National

Topics Workers' Compensation