Mehran sent the following message announcing the new Culture Fellows program.
The pandemic crisis has highlighted more than ever the importance and relevance of our vision, mission and values. Our culture has been built upon and around these three foundational pillars and I believe our success navigating these challenging times can be attributed to our focus on culture. That focus has never diminished and no crisis, no matter how challenging, will dampen our resolve to keep our culture strong.
Our values stand behind everything we do. They encompass our servant leadership tenets and our journey to become a learning organization—the combination of a servant’s heart and a learner’s mind. Why am I so focused on this? Performance, plain and simple. It allows us the privilege and right to serve underserved markets, which includes middle America (small business owners, teachers, individuals from all walks of life), the most underserved segment of the marketplace. Simply said, it allows us to keep our promises.
Over the past decade we have seen the evolution of our culture. This is a direct result of so many of our colleagues who have participated and directly contributed—those who have served to advance our culture from One Company, One Culture, One Message to our most recent Culture Team.
I am pleased to announce today the creation of the Culture Fellows program. This program will take the baton from the Culture Team. Our Fellows will be empowered to identify, create, and lead cultural initiatives in partnership with the Culture Leadership Team (CLT), which was created last year and includes eight members of my Executive Management Team. I have tasked the Culture Leadership Team to guide our culture journey and evaluate, monitor and measure our progress.
The Fellows and Culture Leadership Team will work together on various workstreams including our culture workshops, facilitating open forums on current topics, and expanding on all types of topics related to diversity and inclusion (e.g., racism, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, spirituality).
Being selected as a Fellow is an honor. The selection process involved nominations from Executive Management and members of Senior Leadership. We looked for servant leaders from throughout the organization who can lead, listen and learn as we continue our culture journey. While we look to this team to guide us, all of us have a responsibility in building a culture that we can be proud of.
Please join me in congratulating our inaugural team of Culture Fellows:
- Stephanie Burmester
- Mark Farrell
- Darlene Flagg
- Michelle Jones
- Kara Leclerc
- Senait Menghes
- Lindsay Morway
- Louis Puglisi
- Scott Rogers
- Xan Rousselle
- Tracey Ullom
- Ken Weliczka
Culture Leadership Team
- Mark Benjamin
- Bob Cotton
- Jason Doiron
- Chris Graff
- Nimesh Mehta
- Dawn Minter
- Sarah VanBeck
- Chris Zimmerman
There will be more to come on the Fellows and their work in the weeks ahead.
In the new normal, culture more than ever is the glue that connects us and, as in the past, is a differentiator with our Distribution in the sea of sameness. As a top ten life insurer in America, we have set the bar for customer experience because of our servant leadership culture.
Our team of Fellows is exceptional. Please join me in congratulating the Fellows and thanking them for their leadership.
Cheers,
Mehran Assadi
Chairman, CEO & President