Andrew Vito
CVP, Enterprise Technology
New York Life
Headquarters: New York City, NY
Business: Financial Services
CEO: Ted Mathas
Website: www.newyorklife.com
CVP, ENTERPRISE TECHNOLOGY ANDREW VITO Shares His D&I Views
“Diversity and Inclusion may be getting a lot of attention as of late, but it’s always been an important part of our culture, identity, and business strategy. A world of all the same can only stay constant. A business environment designed to nurture and encourage varying perspectives helps to open minds and leads to innovation, stronger group performance, and improved financials.”
The Ultimate Impact
“Year Up (YU) is an inspiring program that provides urban young adults with the skills, experience, and support that will empower them to reach their potential. When I connected with the program in 2002, I was overcome by the challenges the students faced, the importance of Year Up’s mission, and how well it fit with New York Life’s core values. It became my personal mission to help spread the word about Year Up across our company and to share success stories, so that leaders would begin to seek out interns.
“Over the past two years, I’ve grown the program from one department participating to eight departments and increased the number of interns by more than 200 percent. Expanding our relationship with Year Up supports New York Life’s D&I efforts, and the outcome has been beyond my expectations. Business units are now making Year Up part of their diverse talent pipeline, managers and others are serving as speakers and mentors, and employees who graduated from the program are helping support new interns and managers.”
D&I Wins in 2017
“Our partnership with YU is thriving— increasing the number of interns and our conversion rate, and assisting YU in building Dallas and Tampa programs. The program is expanding to our sales offices across the country.
“We have also improved the internship experience to make it more robust and consistent for both our interns and managers. This includes mentoring, breakfast and lunch events with senior leaders, resume writing and interviewing training, and guest speakers.”
Our Goals for Next Year
“Our diversity objective for the coming year is to attract, develop, and retain the best and brightest talent, recognizing that they will come from a variety of backgrounds and experiences. We also recognize that diversity is only one side of the equation—we must also have an inclusive environment, where employees can bring their true selves to work every day.
“In addition to YU, we will be working to expand Coming Together (our race-relations program), supporting women in P&L roles, and increasing our outreach to veterans.”