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January 04, 2005
Daniel Neary Named Mutual of Omaha Chairman, CEO
The Mutual of Omaha Board of Directors has appointed Daniel Neary Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the company. Neary had served as president since August, 2003. The board will not move immediately to appoint a new president. All operations of the company will report directly to Neary. Neary joined Mutual of Omaha in 1975 as an actuary and went on to hold a number of key management positions within the group insurance area. He was appointed executive vice president of the group business unit in 1999 and under his direction, revenues for the unit rose to record levels.
Neary is only the fifth chairman of the 95-year-old company, following company founder C.C. Criss, V.J. Skutt, Thomas Skutt and most recently, John W. Weekly, who passed away on December 17.
Neary said Weekly's chief legacy is the company's solid financial foundation. "I am fortunate to follow in the footsteps of one of the giants in the insurance industry. Through Jack's vision and leadership, Mutual of Omaha achieved unprecedented success. My goal is to build on this exceptional foundation. We have a strong management team, accountable and engaged associates and a sound business strategy. The future for Mutual of Omaha is limitless."
As president, Neary appointed new leadership over two of the three business units and implemented a corporate business strategy that focused heavily on growing the company's core products. Those products include individual life, Medicare supplement and long term care insurance, as well as group life, disability and accidental death and dismemberment.
Neary is a member of the boards of directors of America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), Creighton University, Commercial Federal Bank and Commercial Federal Corporation, and serves on the board of trustees of the Strategic Air & Space Museum and the Boy Scouts of America Mid-America Council. In August, 2004, Neary served as chairman of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation's Walk to Cure Diabetes. The walk achieved record participation and contributions.
A native of Carroll, Iowa, Neary earned his bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Iowa. Neary's wife, Shirley, is a nationally recognized artist and was the 2004 recipient of the Nebraska Art Council's Individual Artist Fellowship. They have four children.
Posted by Tom Troceen