Mutual of Omaha Insurance Company

What does Mutual of Omaha own?
Mutual of Omaha Holding Company owns a group of insurance subsidiaries including Mutual of Omaha Insurance Company, United of Omaha Life, United World Life, Companion Life, Omaha Insurance Company, Omaha Health Insurance Company, Omaha Supplemental Insurance Company, Medicare Advantage Insurance Company of Omaha, and Omaha Reinsurance Company, plus non-insurance subsidiaries including Mutual of Omaha Mortgage.

Is Mutual of Omaha publicly traded?
No. Mutual of Omaha is a policyholder-owned mutual holding company. It issues no stock and has no ticker symbol. Policyholders, rather than shareholders, own the company and elect its board of directors.

Who founded Mutual of Omaha?
Dr. C.C. Criss, an Omaha physician, and his wife Mabel Criss founded the company on March 5, 1909, as the Mutual Benefit Health and Accident Association. It was renamed Mutual of Omaha Insurance Company in 1950.

Where is Mutual of Omaha headquartered?
The company is headquartered at Mutual of Omaha Plaza in midtown Omaha, Nebraska, near the Turner Park development it helped create. It has been based in Omaha since its 1909 founding.

Who owns Mutual of Omaha?
The company is owned by its policyholders. As a mutual organization, there are no outside shareholders. Profits support policy obligations, policyholder dividends, and company reserves rather than investor returns.

Is Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom still on television?
Yes. After the original series ended in 1988, the franchise was revived as Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom Protecting the Wild, which premiered on NBC in October 2023, hosted by Peter Gros and Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant.

Dr. C.C. Criss and his wife Mabel Criss incorporated Mutual Benefit Health and Accident Association in Omaha, Nebraska, on March 5, 1909. Criss, a physician, saw a gap in coverage for working people who could not afford to be sick. The association sold health and accident policies to teachers, laborers, and small business owners.

The company grew steadily through the 1910s and 1920s. A turning point came with the hiring of V.J. Skutt in 1924. Skutt rose through the organization and became president in 1949, beginning a leadership era that transformed the regional insurer into a national company. In 1950, the company adopted the name Mutual of Omaha Insurance Company, tying its identity to its home city.

Under Skutt, the company pioneered mass marketing of insurance through direct mail and television advertising, bypassing the traditional agent-only model. When Medicare launched in 1966, Mutual of Omaha was among the first insurers to offer Medicare Supplement coverage, a market where it remains a leading provider.

The television program Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom premiered in 1963, hosted by zookeeper Marlin Perkins with naturalist Jim Fowler. The show ran for 25 years in first-run production and made the company's name and its lion-cub-holding image nationally famous.

Mutual of Omaha expanded into banking with Mutual of Omaha Bank, founded in the 2000s, then exited the business, agreeing to sell the bank to CIT Group in a deal completed in early 2020. The company also organized under a mutual holding company structure, placing its insurance subsidiaries beneath Mutual of Omaha Holding Company and Mutual of Omaha Financial Group while retaining policyholder ownership at the top.

Dan Neary became CEO in 2005, succeeding the Skutt family era, but resigned in 2015 following a disclosed relationship with a subordinate. James Blackledge, then president, became CEO in 2015 and was named Chairman and CEO in 2016.

The company returned to Medicare Advantage in 2019 through a partnership with Lumeris, launching plans in San Antonio and Cincinnati after a two-decade absence from that market. Its Medicare Advantage Insurance Company of Omaha now anchors that business. In 2023, the company revived its signature television franchise with Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom Protecting the Wild on NBC, hosted by Peter Gros.

For 2025, the company reported $15.5 billion in combined statutory revenue, up about 6%, with growth in group health, group life, and individual life premiums.

Mutual of Omaha is not a Certified B Corporation and holds no major independent sustainability certifications. Its community investment runs through the Mutual of Omaha Foundation, which funds health, education, and community programs in Omaha and its operating markets, and through wildlife and conservation efforts linked to its Wild Kingdom brand heritage.

As a policyholder-owned mutual, the company's governance model itself is frequently cited as an alignment between ownership and customer interests: policyholder dividends and rate stability take precedence over external shareholder returns.

CEO resignation for misconduct (2015): In February 2015, Chairman and CEO Dan Neary resigned after the board learned of an extramarital relationship with a subordinate employee. James Blackledge, then president and chief operating officer, was named CEO and later chairman. The transition was handled through an internal succession without regulatory action.

Long-term care rate increases: Like other insurers with legacy long-term care and Medigap blocks, Mutual of Omaha has received state regulator approval for premium increases on older policy forms as claim costs rose. These filings are routine regulatory matters rather than penalties, though they have drawn consumer complaints documented in state insurance department records.