Nehemiah Corporation of America
Nehemiah Corporation of America is a non-profit organization based in Sacramento, California specializing in homeownership, affordable housing and community development. It started in 1994 as a small organization, but grew to prominence later in the 1990s after it developed a program that allowed home buyers to make down payments on their purchases using funds that were derived from the home sellers. This program, the Nehemiah Program, became popular and was widely emulated, giving birth to what came to be known as the seller-funded down-payment assistance industry. The industry attracted criticism from U.S. federal agencies (particularly the Government Accountability Office and the Internal Revenue Service) and was ultimately shut down in 2008 by a change in federal law.
Mutual of Omaha
Mutual of Omaha was founded in 1909 by a medical student at Omaha's Creighton University and his wife, Dr. C.C. and Mabel Criss. It has grown into a Fortune 500 company offering insurance and financial solutions for individuals, businesses and groups throughout the United States. In 1927, V.J. Skutt joined their team and was named president in 1949. With a license to sell insurance in all 48 states, an abbreviated name and distinctive Native American symbol, the company gained nationwide prominence in the 1950s. In 1963, the company began sponsoring Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom, a wildlife program hosted by Marlin Perkins and Jim Fowler that remained on television for more than 20 years. The company was one of the first companies to provide disability insurance to non-professional workers, and in 1966 was among the first companies to provide supplementary coverage for people enrolled in Medicare. As of 2017, Mutual of Omaha holds the 367th rank on Fortune 500's top companies. The current CEO is James T. Blackledge. The company and its affiliates have more than 5,000 employees plus a network of sales advisors. The Home Office remains in Omaha, NE, with satellite or sales offices in most states. The Company holds an A+ rating from A.M. Best and AA- rating from Standard & Poor's.Wild Kingdom - In 1963, Mutual of Omaha introduced the wildlife television program, "Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom." The original show ran from 1963 to 1988, and was revitalized in 2002 with a new series on Animal Planet. The program currently is shown via webisodes starring with the program's first female host, wildlife expert Stephanie Arne.