Ann Womer Benjamin

Ann Womer Benjamin is an American politician of the Republican party in Ohio and current director of the Northeast Ohio Council on Higher Education. Benjamin served in the Cabinet of the former Governor of Ohio, Bob Taft, as director of the Ohio Department of Insurance.

Benjamin was appointed the first female Director of the Ohio Department of Insurance by Gov. Taft in January 2003. She previously served eight years in the Ohio House of Representatives representing most of Portage County and practiced law for 24 years, most recently with the former national law firm of Arter and Hadden where she practiced in the areas of estate planning, probate and probate litigation. Before joining Arter and Hadden, she was the first female lawyer and partner at Black, McCuskey, Souers & Arbaugh in Canton, Ohio.

At the Department, the Director made the alleged "medical malpractice insurance crisis" a priority. She regulated a market where rates increased 20 and 30% in 2001, 2002, and 2003 and have shown a net decrease in 2006. For two years the Director chaired the Ohio Medical Malpractice Commission, several recommendations of which were championed by the Department and enacted into law.

Director Womer Benjamin also launched an investigation into agent practices in the Ohio insurance marketplace in the wake of the New York investigation and has taken action against both companies and agents for the protection of consumers. Under her leadership, the Department has been the lead Ohio agency in the implementation of Medicare Part D, the new prescription drug benefit. Ohio was the first state in the nation to have enrolled 70% of its eligible beneficiaries in the program, for which the Department received a commendation from the United States Department of Health and Human Services.

At the national level, the Director has served since 2005 as regional officer and Executive Committee member of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners and Vice Chair of the Government Affairs Task Force. Under her leadership, Ohio was the 26th and implementing state for the Interstate Compact Commission to regulate the life insurance industry. As a member of the Compact Management Committee, the Director led the successful effort to require that Commission committee meetings be open to the public.

In the Ohio Legislature, Womer Benjamin served for eight years on the Ohio House Finance and Appropriations Committee. She also served for more than four years as Chairman of the House Criminal Justice Committee, guiding the passage of legislation rewriting Ohio's juvenile justice laws and prohibiting partial birth abortion. Twenty of her bills became law including legislation that toughens Ohio's rape laws, protects the State Victims of Crime Fund from the claims of felons, and makes Ohio roadways safer by allowing a judge to suspend the driver's license of someone charged with vehicular homicide.

Womer Benjamin received her B.A. in 1975 in Political Science and German from Vanderbilt University magna cum laude and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. She received her J.D. degree from Case Western Reserve University School of Law in 1978 where she taught Research, Advocacy and Writing and was a National Moot Court Board Advisor.

In 2000, she was elected a fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel and formerly served as an Adjunct Professor of Law at Case Western Reserve University School of Law and Cleveland-Marshall College of Law at Cleveland State University. She has been active in the Cleveland Bar Association, the Aurora Community Theatre, and The Church in Aurora, where she sings in the choir and serves as an Elder.

In recognition of her accomplishments, Womer Benjamin has been inducted into the Shaker Heights High School Hall of Fame (1997), elected Aurora Citizen of the Year (2001), named Legislator of the Year by the Ohio Nurses Association (2001), elected to her law school honorary Society of Benchers (2003), and awarded the Ohio University Phillips Medal of Public Service (2004). The Director resides in Aurora with her husband, also an attorney, and has two daughters. She enjoys music, theater, poetry, antiques, and her Welsh Corgi.

In 2002, Benjamin was the Republican nominee for the U.S. House of Representatives seat held by the imprisoned James A. Traficant Jr.. Benjamin lost that race to Democrat Timothy J. Ryan.

ee also

* Election Results, U.S. Representative from Ohio, 17th District