WoodmenLife Associate Chad Benner Named to Midlands Business Journal’s 40 Under 40

Chad Benner first stepped into the WoodmenLife Tower 12 years ago, fresh out of college. Since then, the Project Accountant has expanded his knowledge and grown into a leader on the Accounting team.

Benner’s determination and contributions to important projects within WoodmenLife inspired Aaron Cooper, Director of Accounting Support, to nominate him to the Midlands Business Journal’s 40 Under 40. On Dec. 4, Benner received his well-deserved award during a celebration at the Omaha Design Center.

A Career at WoodmenLife

During his time at WoodmenLife, Benner has served in several roles, learning new skill sets and developing new relationships along the way.

After earning his bachelor’s degree in accounting at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, Benner started his career at WoodmenLife as a Legacy Checkwriter. Since then, he’s worked as an Accounts Payable Specialist, Staff Accountant, Senior Staff Accountant, Supervisor Accounts Payable and Purchasing, and finally his current role as a Project Accountant.

“I really enjoy where I’m at now — it allows me to really use my strengths,” he said. “The position lets me dive into processes and find efficiencies. From the start, I focused on not only knowing how to do my job, but also how does the information come to me and how does what I do impact others downstream?”

Benner said what helped him propel his career was being able to help solve problems for not only himself but the entire organization.

While at WoodmenLife, Benner has been involved in making invoice processes more efficient. Among the projects he’s contributed to are implementing software to digitize paper invoices and creating a formula to automate a task that used to take hours to complete manually.

“It might take me an extra 5, 10 minutes — but down the road, it’s saving somebody else one, two, three hours,” he said. “It’s worth it to me to take on that extra load.”

Outside the Office

Making connections within and beyond his department was also an imperative step in growing his career.

“I’ve tried to be very involved with the various activities that WoodmenLife offers,” he said, noting the Golf League and the Omaha Heart & Stroke Walk as examples. “Just finding opportunities to interact with other WoodmenLife associates outside of a strictly work environment has been helpful in establishing connections.”

Being able to stay involved at WoodmenLife, while also making a difference in his department, has been a worthwhile endeavor for Benner. He was especially grateful for the organization and its opportunities for growth as he humbly accepted his 40 Under 40 award.

“I was definitely surprised to be nominated,” Benner said. “It’s rewarding to see that the work I do to try and improve our accounting processes is being recognized, not only by my direct managers, but throughout the company.”

Learn more about a career with WoodmenLife at WoodmenLife.org/Careers.

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