Rebecca Dunne joined National Life in 2016 as a Vice President for the Affiliated Channel. Now, the Senior Vice President for Affiliated Distribution and will lead the Channel into its next phase of strategic growth and market development. Rebecca lives in Bernardsville, New Jersey with her husband Michael and is the mother of four children.
What has your career pathway been like? How did you get to where you are now?
I majored in communications, but I found myself fascinated by finance and, following a “starter career” that was enormously instructive in clarifying my career ambitions, I became an Agent with Prudential. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to move within the organization. I acquired knowledge and experience in the field as well as in the legal department and various home office leadership positions including leading, developing Career Agency distribution, and launching annuity distribution for the Bank Channel. In 2009 I accepted a new challenge with Penn Mutual and led their Career Channel. When National Life called in 2016 with an opportunity to be back in the field and help to develop some of the Channel’s largest, most diverse, and rapidly growing agencies, I jumped at the chance.
What attracted you to National Life?
National Life has a culture that is unlike anything I have seen elsewhere in the industry. Culture is always a work in progress, and it is something that needs continuous investment and stewardship, but what we have here is remarkable and real. Not just by how we do business, but also how we behave toward both our clients and each other.
What do you like most about working at National Life Group?
National Life has a unique culture. I love the explicit and embedded understanding that we are mission driven and genuinely care about what we do here. “Do Good. Be Good. Make Good.” and “Bringing Peace of Mind to Everyone We Touch” is authentic in ways that are not common across the industry. In many ways, National Life feels like a highly productive family; close, caring, and achievement oriented. We are not a small organization, but neither are we so large that colleagues are not accessible to one another.
What leadership quality do you most admire and aspire to?
In the long term, people follow inspiration, not direction. I know that I am most attracted to leaders with inspiration and passion, and who have both vision and the ability to communicate clearly.
What does becoming the Senior Vice President of Affiliated Distribution mean to you?
It is an honor to step into the SVP role that Pam Blalock helped to define. I look forward to continuing to build, grow, and develop the Affiliated Channel by leveraging our existing strengths and building new opportunities. I am also excited about the future of women in our business and focused on helping our leaders develop organizations and Agencies that attract more people -of all genders and backgrounds- to our business. We need to do more to build leadership that reflects the communities that we serve. We need to be deliberate about looking at our diversity through the lens of our communities.
Do you have a cause or a favorite “Do good” passion?
For many years I have been a CASA; a Court Appointed Special Advocate for children. CASAs are volunteers in the community who are appointed by judges to be the advocate and ‘voice’ of the voiceless – often neglected or abused children- in court. To be a CASA is both sad and intensely rewarding. My family is also passionate about St. Jude and the wonderful work that they do.