MassMutual is a 174-year-old life insurance company with $34 billion in annual revenue. It is a mutual company, and as such, it is owned by its policyholders. Despite its age, the company has made remarkable progress in transforming itself to be tech forward. Sears Merritt has been the shephard of this change as the company’s Head of Enterprise Technology and Experience. In his expansive role, Merritt oversees technology, cybersecurity, data and artificial intelligence strategy, managing a $650 million annual budget and a global team of 3,000. His remit is expansive, blending technology leadership with a focus on experience, research and business transformation.
A Mission-Driven Approach to Technology and Experience
Merritt describes his role as “incredibly broad;” one that blends innovation with execution across the full stack of enterprise technology. “We’re responsible for driving the company’s technology strategy,” he said. “But maybe most importantly, we deliver exceptional experiences to all the people that are involved in running the company and delivering on the promises we’ve made to our policyholders.”
His team isn’t limited to traditional IT. It includes data scientists, cybersecurity experts, experience designers and AI specialists, all working in integrated pods across business lines. “We have dedicated tech teams that are fully integrated with data folks, technology folks, experience individuals and everything in-between,” Merritt explained.
The company’s R&D function, recently elevated under Merritt’s leadership, plays a key role in that vision. Staffed with people trained in formal scientific methodology, it is “developing capabilities for the future that we can actually bring into the MassMutual environment when they’re ready,” according to Merritt.
Simplification and Modernization
Modernization at a 174-year-old company isn’t just about new tools. For Merritt, it’s about simplification. “We crafted a strategy that’s grounded in what we call simplification and modernization,” he noted. “Our objective is to have the minimum number of systems in place that are modernized and built out in ways that allow us to move quickly.”
That effort involves phasing out legacy systems and consolidating platforms to allow more agile delivery. “We want to be in a position where we’ve got healthy modern systems that we can very quickly enhance through time,” he explained. The same principles apply to data. Investments in organizing and accessing it are foundational to MassMutual’s digital transformation.
The modernization effort has been carefully structured as a multi-year roadmap, balancing the need for long-term resilience with the pace of innovation. “We’ve stayed focused and disciplined [on modernization efforts]
,” Merritt underscored.
Harnessing Generative AI to Enhance Experience
With modern systems and strong data foundations in place, MassMutual has moved quickly to leverage generative AI. “We’ve adopted a lot of the modern GenAI developments,” said Merritt, “either building our own systems or strategically identifying core GenAI capabilities and distributing them across strategic systems.”
MassMutual’s deployment spans productivity tools like GitHub Copilot and Microsoft Copilot to customer- and agent-facing virtual assistants. “We see 10% boost in productivity and code quality when we expose those tools to developers,” Merritt noted.
Beyond productivity, MassMutual is developing “virtual assistants,” which are tightly integrated AI agents designed for different user types. These range from tools that help financial advisors learn about products and serve clients more efficiently to assistants supporting MassMutual’s wealth management and contact center operations.
He sees continued progress, as agents merit greater autonomy. “We anticipate thinking about those as autonomous agents in the very near future,” Merritt said.
Earning Buy-In for New Ways of Working
Rolling out AI capabilities across a diverse, experienced workforce can pose challenges. Merritt’s approach has been to align technology with business outcomes and involve users directly in development. “Working with our financial advisors has actually been one of the great success stories,” he emphasized. “They actually co-designed many of the tools.”
Rather than forcing adoption through new platforms, his team integrates AI into systems people already use. “We’ve made strategic choices to be very thoughtful around how we integrate these types of GenAI tools into the systems that drive a lot of what they do day-to-day,” Merritt said. This approach, which emphasizes enablement rather than disruption, has proven effective in boosting adoption and satisfaction.
Wellness as a Strategic Differentiator
Another area where Merritt is driving innovation is health and wellness, which is not typically associated with life insurers. The mutual structure, however, creates alignment between MassMutual and its policyholders, incentivizing longer lifespans and stronger long-term relationships.
“What we decided to originally experiment with has turned into a full-blown body of work,” Merritt said. The result is a curated portfolio of partners, including Grail (early cancer detection), Genomics (polygenic risk scoring) and WiSA (AI-driven mental health support). “We’ve exceeded all expectations,” he noted. “We’ve ended up having to expand relationships in all cases.”
A Mind for Science, A Focus on Impact
Merritt academic and professional background suggests a catholicity one does not normally find in heads of technology for major insurance companies. He holds a PhD in computer science from the University of Colorado Boulder and an MBA from MIT Sloan. He previously worked in startups and academia but found in MassMutual the perfect blend of mission and innovation. “I love creating knowledge, but I also love turning that knowledge into something people can use and actually drive some real impact,” he observed.
His path may be unconventional, but Merritt’s approach, combining scientific rigor with practical application, is shaping the future of one of America’s most storied financial institutions.
Peter High is President of Metis Strategy, a business and IT advisory firm. He has written three bestselling books, including his latest Getting to Nimble. He also moderates the Technovation podcast series and speaks at conferences around the world. Follow him on Twitter @PeterAHigh.