Have you considered how inclusivity affects the economy and society? Francesca Luthi, Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer at Assurant, has championed diversity in the workplace through courageous conversations and a program to hire individuals with neurodiverse conditions. Listen as Francesca shares how any organization can benefit from having a greater perspective.
Bio: Francesca Luthi is executive vice president, chief administrative officer of Assurant and a member of the company’s Management Committee. In this role, she oversees several critical business functions that enable the execution of the company’s overall strategy, including global human resources, real estate, brand and marketing, communications, corporate social responsibility, investor relations and global sourcing. Since assuming this expanded role in July 2020, she has focused on enhancing the company’s global brand and reputation among customers, employees and shareholders by building strategic capabilities to attract and engage the best talent, foster a more diverse and inclusive culture and drive long-term profitable growth.
Ms. Luthi led an extensive redesign of Assurant’s human resources function to drive business outcomes and empower the company’s 16,000 employees worldwide to achieve the company’s purpose. As part of this transformation effort, she led a multi-disciplinary team to define and embed the key tenets of Assurant’s culture to support the company’s strategy under President and CEO Keith Demmings, and design and execute Assurant’s Future of Work transition plans, including a shift to flexible work and significant restructuring of the company’s global real estate portfolio and workplace experience.
Previously, as Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, Ms. Luthi successfully drove the repositioning of Assurant as a market leader in the connected lifestyle as part of the company’s multi-year transformation. This began in 2015 by advising on the company’s portfolio strategy and subsequent organizational realignment to create a more unified enterprise and drive long-term shareholder value. After assuming leadership for Assurant’s newly formed enterprise marketing and communication organization in 2016, she led the integration and restructuring of the marketing, communications, and consumer insights functions to support Assurant's growth strategy across its housing and lifestyle markets, while also delivering operating efficiencies to fund investments in core areas, such as digital and content marketing and corporate social responsibility.
Under her leadership, Assurant also deepened its focus around the customer experience by creating a dedicated center of excellence aimed at further embedding customer focus as a cultural imperative and accelerating the deployment of emerging technology, such as artificial intelligence, to deliver seamless, omni-channel experiences.
During her tenure with the company, Ms. Luthi has strategically advised on mergers and acquisitions, as well as several divestitures, ensuring a seamless integration and shareholder value creation. This included the $2.5 billion acquisition and integration of The Warranty Group in 2018, the largest acquisition in Assurant’s history, and most recently numerous acquisitions across its mobile and automotive businesses.
As Assurant transformed its business, Ms. Luthi worked to further strengthen the company’s commitment to key environmental, social and governance matters impacting its business and key stakeholders, garnering multiple accolades. Since 2019, the company’s ESG and investor relations programs were recognized by Institutional Investor among the best within the insurance sector. Assurant is Great Place to Work® Certified in 12 countries, including the U.S. In recognition of its commitment to diversity, Assurant has been recognized as one of America’s Best Large Employers in 2022 and Best Employers for Diversity 2021 by Forbes; included in Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index; and earned a score of 100 on the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s 2022 Corporate Equality Index, among others.
Prior to joining Assurant in 2012, Ms. Luthi was senior vice president of corporate communication and investor relations at Accretive Health. Previously, she held senior-level investor relations and communication roles at BearingPoint and Accenture, where she was recognized for enhancing brand awareness, expanding the global shareholder base and overseeing the repositioning of those businesses.
Earlier in her career, Ms. Luthi helped establish the investor relations department at Omnicom Group after serving as a financial analyst at Morgan Stanley.
An advocate for children with special needs, Ms. Luthi sits on the Board of Directors of the National Ability Center, empowering individuals of all abilities to build self-esteem and lifetime skills through sport, recreation and educational programs. She also is on the board and chairs the Audit Committee of dMY Technology Group, Inc., a special purpose acquisition company focused on the mobile app ecosystem.
Ms. Luthi received a bachelor’s degree in economics from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service.
Francesca's Something Extra: Perspective
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- Lisa Nichols, Host
- Scott Crosby, Executive Producer
- Jenny Heal, Guest Coordinator
- Morgan Cochran, Marketing Support
