Dean A. Del Vecchio’s Post

We celebrated another great year at Guardian Life with over 1,600 colleagues at holiday parties hosted at our Bethlehem, Holmdel, Hudson Yards, Pittsfield, and Stamford offices over the last two weeks. Huge thanks to everyone who contributed to the festive spirit—cheers to a remarkable year and to a fantastic 2024!

A record dividend and recognition from J.D. Power—talk about ending the year on a high note! Congratulations, team, and thanks to all our colleagues for your commitment to elevating our consumers’ experiences, wowing them at every interaction, and inspiring wellbeing in those we serve. 

Since joining NPower's Board of Directors in 2019, I’ve seen firsthand the impact of this organization’s work on young people and veterans as well as the technology field. In today’s economy, over 50% of jobs require some degree of technology and digital skill. If recent advancements in generative AI are any indication, that number is only going to increase, making NPower’s mission more important than ever.   It was great connecting with Candice L. Dixon at the NPower Gala earlier this week. Candice leads NPower’s Command Shift Coalition, which is working to bring more women of color into tech—and she’s someone you need to know. Under her leadership, the Coalition is providing great tools like The Diversity Directive to help companies proactively adopt policies and practices to hire, recruit, and retain women of color in technology roles, particularly those who enter the field through nontraditional pathways. I’m proud to say that Guardian Life was an early supporter of this initiative and continues to do so as a Steering Committee member. We've contributed over $1.7M to NPower since 2019 and remain committed to helping this important organization and its graduates succeed.   Attending with our own NPower graduate, Esteban Bernal, and our colleagues Kristie Sells, Andrew Conte, Lorena Haro, Sarah A Williams, Greg K., Mohit Mehra, Francine Chew (she/her), and Veena Jayadeva, MA, MBA made the evening even more memorable. Thanks for the support! #genAI #veterans #technology #philanthropy

Daniel Johnson, John Napoli, and I joined our Guardian Life colleagues in honoring Tech Day of Pink, an annual campaign dedicated to mobilizing the global tech community to help create a breast cancer-free world. More info at www.techdayofpink.com. #TechInPink2023 #TimeToEndBreastCancer

Congratulations to PACCAR's Lily Ley for being recognized as the 2023 #ORBIE National CIO of the Year in the Global category—and to all this year's winners. It was humbling and inspiring to be counted as a finalist among so many accomplished professionals. For winners and finalists alike, this recognition underscores the ever-growing importance of IT, all that our teams are accomplishing through technology, and all that we endeavor to accomplish in the future as we're entrusted to lead them. Congrats again and good luck! #cio #technology #innovation

I’m thrilled to welcome John Napoli to my team at Guardian Life as Head of EBTS Strategy & Planning. John’s arrival couldn’t have come at a more critical time. Rapid technological advancements are reshaping consumer expectations, and companies must stay agile to meet evolving demands and maintain competitive advantage. As we enter the next stage of our digital transformation journey, John will play a key role in helping us explore how to best implement new technologies and capabilities as they emerge, ensuring we continue to deliver the very best for our consumers while inspiring well-being in all those we serve. We're glad you're here, John! #leadership #teamwork #transformation

It was a pleasure to sit down with Digital Insurance’s Michael Shashoua to talk about how we’re putting the consumer at the center of our technology strategy and our business. Rapid technological advancements are reshaping consumer expectations, and companies must stay agile to meet evolving demands. Adapting swiftly is not just a necessity, but an opportunity to forge stronger consumer relationships and drive business growth. Guardian Life #customerexperience #Customerfirst #GenerativeAI #transformation

Thrilled that Guardian Life has been recognized in the top 100 best places to work in #India by the Great Place to Work® Institute (India). Congratulations, team!

In business—and especially in the tech world—vulnerability carries negative connotations. It represents cracks in systems or processes that could lead to undesirable outcomes. But in leadership, the opposite is often true. We talked about both sides of this coin at Ignite, Guardian Life’s semiannual leadership gathering, last week.   On reducing vulnerability: Doug Greene reminded us that as technology evolves, so do #Cybersecurity threats. As we seek opportunities to mitigate risk and maximize the power of technology for our consumers, he offered a simple but powerful message to leaders: cybersecurity takes all of us. We must keep learning and making cyber-resilience part of our culture. By doing so, we help protect our company and consumers—and empower our colleagues to protect themselves and their loved ones, too.   On making room for vulnerability: Dear World encouraged and coached us to share personal stories with each other. It’s much easier to hear another person’s story than to share your own. It’s also much easier to share your own after someone else has shared theirs. Vulnerability builds trust and helps others be vulnerable. It’s a virtuous circle that fosters empathy, improves collaboration, and inspires innovation—and it all starts with leaders making room.   #LeadershipDevelopment #EmployeeEngagement #Storytelling

Between changing workforce demographics, evolving regulations, and innovation in #EmployeeBenefits, the complexity of managing those benefits is intensifying. Research from Guardian Life found employers reporting the greatest levels of complexity are twice as likely to pursue digitization in their benefits administration. Employers know that a streamlined, integrated back-end benefits management system is a powerful and efficient way to enhance the function for HR teams; further, it enables them to empower employees and their families to experience the full value of their benefits. That’s why we’re making it easier to partner with Guardian with a future-forward #API strategy that optimizes processes, integration, time, and resources. Our approach to APIs and platform connectivity enable us to meet organizations where they are and, together, improve outcomes of their own benefits administration while improving their employees’ experiences. Check out benefits technology trends in our latest report, Quantum Leap.