TJ Obrokta Jr.
President & CEO, Encova Insurance
Photo by Kevin Cross.
BROOKE BROWN
TJ OBROKTA JR., president and CEO of Encova Insurance, leads a multibillion-dollar company that writes auto, home and business insurance across 27 states. Despite this, he is most proud of his home state of West Virginia.
Obrokta grew up in the suburbs of Huntington, WV, after moving there from Pittsburgh, PA. It was in that neighborhood where he grew up that he learned the values of hard work, discipline and teamwork from his parents, including his father who coached all his little league sports.
“ He instilled in me the value of a team and the importance of disregarding individual accolades or accomplishments,” Obrokta says.“ Equally, my
mother required academic excellence throughout my childhood. She saw education as the most efficient pathway to success.”
Obrokta earned his undergraduate degree in economics from Columbia University in New York City in 1991 before returning home to West Virginia to attend law school at West Virginia University( WVU) College of Law, graduating in 1994. He recalls his time at WVU Law fondly, praising the quality of faculty, the camaraderie among students and the practical opportunities the college provided.
“ I remember the challenges of trying to understand the complex principles surrounding the Rule Against
Perpetuities, the patience of John Fisher as he taught it to us, the demanding workload and trying to find an empty conference room in Ruby Memorial Hospital to study with friends,” Obrokta says.
From there, his career in law wasn’ t set in a straight line but instead was more purposeful. After graduating from WVU Law, he went to work at Jenkins Fenstermaker, PLLC in Huntington, where he had been an intern after his second year of law school. He practiced labor and employment law there and represented employers in their interactions with organized labor. He also defended employers in employment discrimination cases.
“ I chose this area of practice because in helping employers with the challenges they were facing, I felt I was helping improve the economic environment in West Virginia,” Obrokta says.
Obrokta went on to become general counsel of the West Virginia Workers’ Compensation Commission. He recalls that the compensation system and rates in the state were the worst in the nation and became one of the biggest impediments to economic growth in West Virginia. He felt he needed to do something about it and help shape the future of the state.
“ I wanted to make a contribution toward improving the economic environment in West Virginia, and helping fix workers’ compensation was, in my mind, the most valuable way to do that,” Obrokta says.
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WEST VIRGINIA EXECUTIVE