New York Life Insurance Company has picked Jomil Guerrero to help the company better connect to a wider market of customers.
Guerrero, the financial services giant's new chief diversity officer, will influence New York Life's employee benefits, investment and marketing strategies. Part of her job will involve supporting agents' and advisors' efforts to reach more people in culturally diverse markets.
Expanding people's access to in-person guidance "is key to empowering individuals to make more informed decisions to secure their financial futures," Guerrero said.
Guerrero earned a bachelor's degree in accounting from the University of Central Florida. She started out in financial services as an accountant, then joined New York Life as an executive in the Insurance & Agency Group in 2011.
From 2016 through 2018, she worked in New York Life Investments project management and communications. Later, she spent three years as head of New York Life Investments' global marketing operations, and about a year as the chief operating officer of IndexIQ, an ETF management subsidiary.
Guerrero has also been the co-lead of New York Life's Social Justice Working Group.
She answered questions via email about her new responsibilities. The answers have been edited.
THINKADVISOR: Why should life insurers make an effort to serve diverse markets?
JOMIL GUERRERO: The need for life insurance is greater than ever. This is especially true for middle-market and culturally diverse families.
The industry has a tremendous opportunity to better support financial literacy in our local communities, many of which are underserved.
We all have different backgrounds, experiences and perspectives that shape our financial needs. The ideas and questions we hear from customers help us to think differently, innovate and create better customer experiences and solutions.
How is New York Life trying to do more to reach everyone?
New York Life maintains a field force of over 12,000 agents and advisors.
Our agents and advisors help people identify long-term priorities and make the decisions required to protect those they care about most. Shared backgrounds often allow for more intimate connections and long-lasting, trusted relationships.
We actively seek out talented individuals who represent the many different communities in the U.S. By growing the number of financial professionals with a diverse mix of talent that reflects the communities we're serving, New York Life is better positioned to have positive impacts in these communities.
New York Life's Target and Cultural Markets group focuses on meeting the financial protection needs of historically underserved markets, including the African American, Chinese, Korean, Latino, South Asian, Vietnamese and LGBTQ+ communities.
