Dennis Chookaszian
Dennis Chookaszian is the retired chairman and chief executive officer of CNA Insurance Companies.
Mr. Chookaszian served as CNA’s chairman and chief executive officer from 1992 until 1999. He also served as chairman of the executive committee of CNA from 1999 to 2001. From 1990 to 1992, Mr. Chookaszian served as CNA’s president and chief operating officer, with responsibility for all property and casualty, life, health, and investment operations. Mr. Chookaszian joined CNA in 1975 and served as chief financial officer until 1990 when he was named president. He also served as chairman and CEO of mPower Inc, an internet financial advisory service, from 1999 to 2001. Prior to joining CNA, he was a management consultant with Deloitte for eight years working on various financial and systems related assignments.
Mr. Chookaszian served as chairman of FASAC (Financial Accounting Standards Advisory Council) which provides guidance to the FASB (Financial Accounting Standards Board) on accounting matters for five years and completed his term in 2012. He was also a member of the FCAG (Financial Crisis Advisory Group) which was the international commission that was created to develop recommendations to solve the financial reporting problems associated with the financial crisis of 2008.
During his career, he has served as a director on the boards of thirteen publicly traded corporations and eighty private corporations. He is currently a director of two public companies including Perdoceo Education, a private post-secondary education provider, and Pillarstone Capital, a real estate investment trust. He also serves as a director of twenty private corporations and has served as an arbitrator in thirteen diverse cases and as an expert witness in nineteen cases.
Mr. Chookaszian is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and teaches courses in Corporate Governance. He has also taught courses in International Corporate Governance at Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business in China and at Jiao Tong University Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance in China. He previously taught Corporate Governance at the Indian Institute of Professional Management in India.
Mr. Chookaszian is a trustee of Northwestern University, a member of the advisory board of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, and a member of the advisory board of Kellogg Graduate School of Management. He is also a member of the executive committee of Steppenwolf Theater, a director of Northwestern Memorial Foundation and president of the Foundation for Health Enhancement.
Mr. Chookaszian has a Bachelors degree in Chemical Engineering from Northwestern University, an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth Graduate School of Business, and a Master of Science degree in Economics from the London School of Economics. He is a Certified Public Accountant, a Chartered Global Management Accountant, Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter, an NACD Certified Director, and a Certified Management Consultant as well as a member of the directors’ table of Beta Gamma Sigma, an honorary fraternity. In 2010, Mr. Chookaszian received the Outstanding Director Award from the Financial Times Outstanding Directors Exchange.
