Voice of Experience: Sallie Graves, Senior Vice President, Head of Insurance and Distributor Services IT, ING

By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

Sallie Graves, Senior Vice President and Head of Insurance and Distributor Services IT at ING, has built a career that demonstrates the importance of taking on new challenges, as well as making lateral moves. For the past 15 years, Graves has been motivated by her interest in IT – moving between industries (from manufacturing to consulting to financial services) and functions to get closer to technology.

But, she said, what’s impacted her career more than anything is her family. She explained, “The balance my children have created within me has made me more successful than I ever could have been without them.”

A Career Path to IT Leadership

Graves has been with ING since 2001, currently now a division CIO for the company’s US Retail Life Insurance and its Employee Benefits line of business. She also has an enterprise function working in distributor services including licensing contracting and commissions.

Graves graduated from the University of Georgia in 1994 with a BA in business administration, and went to work in manufacturing at Milliken and Co., a textile and chemical manufacturer. “I really liked being a part of that company,” she said. “I was not just doing tech, but seeing how technology evolves, and helps companies grow,” she said.

After a fire at a Milliken plant, Graves was asked to help in the rebuilding process, which involved developing new IT systems. She also learned a lot about management. She said, “I was a manufacturing manager, working with people older than my grandmother.” She also had the responsibility to oversee planning production, making inventory, managing the business, and implementing supply chain solutions.

“By the end of the ’90s, Milliken was investing heavily in machinery while other industries were more focused on technology as a way to drive business.” she said. “And I decided to go into consulting as a way to transfer into a different industry.”

Graves joined PeopleSoft, which had just purchased JP Edwards and wanted to build its IT supply chain practice. “I had the business and back office experience they wanted,” she said. “I was a financial consultant by day, and a supply chain consultant by night.”

“Then I ended up at ING, working in account integration. And after I left the account, I got a call, asking me if I wanted to come to ING full time. I enjoyed the project, and in financial services, IT is important.”

Graves started working in ING’s back office, and led the implementation of a performance management system, and then moving into team management. She transitioned into a management role for ERP development, engineering, and data base administrators. “It got me back into a really technical area,” she said. She ultimately ended up leading the Corporate ERP team, business analysis and technical teams that supported the HR and financial pieces for the Americas.

“Then an opportunity in retail life insurance came up,” she continued, “managing 120 individuals and 100 contractors at a much larger organization. I had no experience in life insurance, and it felt like a stretch.”

But, she said, with the encouragement of her mentors at ING, “I decided to go for it. With the experience in distributed systems and packaged application experience I brought to the table, I felt I could learn the rest.”

She continued, “ING really treats IT as part of the business team. I became head of distributor services two years ago, and took on the Employment Benefits line of business last year.”

“I’ve had an exciting career. Every day there is something different and challenging, and that’s what I like.” Graves said her proudest achievement was taking a risk and moving into the leadership role at ING she got four years ago. “I’m from a small town in South Georgia! To be able to achieve so much in such a short time – I’m 39 now and was 35 when I got the role – it’s a big step.”

She continued, “It was something that if you looked at it on paper, people would have never guessed I would have gone for it. But I went for it and have been successful.”

Currently, Graves is excited about ING’s IPO. “That’s the biggest thing – it’s a transformation in my business area.”

She is also working on an exciting automation project. “The environment is changing. We have to have a robust service model that caters to the product, but that supports the process. That includes automated new business and underwriting, like e-delivery, so a policy-holder can go to a portal and sign up electronically, so we can deliver a full-service chassis of automation. But it’s not just a one-stop shop. To get the competitive advantage, policy-holders and agents have to be able to pick and choose the pieces they want. It’s powerful.”

Insurance Industry Issues

“We do face challenges in the industry,” Graves said. “One challenge is how competitive the insurance industry has gotten from a price perspective. That mean’s there’s more scrutiny on how we manage ourselves.”

She continued, “Keeping all those things in line, like the right sales of the right product – it’s a continual struggle.”

“From a technology perspective, I’m very concerned about the age of the workforce,” Graves said.

“We have an extremely maturing workforce. How do we infuse IT talent into the organization? How do you avoid losing that knowledge in a few years? How do we get early career talent in here? And how do we keep our mature talent from retiring, and staying engaged? I think one key is flexible scheduling.”

Advice for Women in IT

Graves said one of the challenges she faces in IT is that she simply doesn’t see a lot of female CIOs – not a lot of women stick with a development track, she explained. “The track to the CIO world is through the development world. In business analyst, QA, or PM roles, we definitely see strong female leaders. But there are not a lot of them in the development group, and this is a critical piece in the tech arena. If you don’t have these skills you will be overlooked.”

She asked, “How can we get more women through the development world into the leadership positions or rotated through those roles, and not discounted because they don’t have that piece of the puzzle?

She advised young women not to hold themselves back. “Always go for it,” she said. “Every promotion I’ve gotten, I thought, ‘Am I really ready for this?’ But you’ve got to go for it.”

“When I was first starting out, I wish I had known not to underestimate career planning. Early in your career, you just want to jump in and get started. Never cut short the up-front steps you have to do to be successful,” Graves said.

“Your tech and analyst skills are important, and your relationship skills are so valuable. I don’t know that I realized how important they would be!”

She continued, “The other thing is that you may want to be a perfectionist,” she continued. “But you can not be the perfectionist. If it seems like 75% to 85% to you, it seems like 100% to others. You have to maintain that functional balance to be effective.”

As women become more senior, she said, they have to stay focused on their current job, but should also have an eye on the next level. “Constantly be letting people know – your boss, your network – that you are interested in continuing to progress in your career. Stay networked in your company and in your community.”

Graves is part of ING’s Women in Technology group in Atlanta, and is actively involved with the company’s mentoring program. She also takes on speaking engagements.

She mentioned the company’s ALANA program, a program for diverse women. “It’s a great program and one of the women from it came to me to be her mentor.” Graves also participated in ING’s Women’s Leadership Expedition for top female talent. “We take a real business problem and use it as a development opportunity, and present our solutions to the executive management team. We were able to secure funding to move forward.”

In Her Personal Time

Graves said that having children has turned her into a better leader. She said, “I have a six year old and a three year old. I don’t think I could be as successful in my career without my children.”

She continued, “They’ve given me focus. I feel more balanced and more efficient. They’ve given me the right perspective at work.”

Additionally, she is involved with a non profit called Girls Get IT, and is on the board of the Boys and Girls Club in Atlanta. “It feels wonderful to have an impact in the community,” she said. “It complements my family, because I can get my boys involved, and it complements my professional work as well,” she explained, adding that she had been able to do some IT advising as part of her work with the organization.

A big sports fan, Graves enjoys SEC football and has a fantasy baseball team with her husband.