Wilbur Jenkins Podcast Transcript
Wilbur Jenkins joins host Brian Thomas on The Digital Executive Podcast.
Welcome to Cort Technologies, home of the Digital Executive podcast.
Brian Thomas: Welcome to the Digital Executive. Today’s guest is Wilbur Jenkins. Wilbur Jenkins serves WoodmanLife as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. Woodman Life is a leading provider of life insurance and retirement planning solutions with a strong commitment to donating time, money, and resources to local communities.
As an executive officer, Wilbur leads the cooperations, human Resources and Strategic Initiatives division. Jenkins joined Woodman Life in 2023 and is a member of the Chapter 16 in Omaha, Nebraska. Before joining Woodman Life, Jenkins had been senior Vice President of Operations and Business Transformation with Argo Group and Vice President of Countrywide Operations for Hartford Financial Services Group.
Well, good afternoon Wilbur. Welcome to the show. Hello,
Wilbur Jenkins: Brian. Thanks for having me.
Brian Thomas: Absolutely, my friend. I appreciate it. And we’re just a stones throw apart today. You’re in Omaha, Nebraska. I’m in Kansas City, so that’s usually, uh, besides being in Kansas City for my guests, I generally have to travel all over the country or the world to do these, so I appreciate you making the time.
Wilbur, if we could, I’m gonna jump into your first question. You were promoted to Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at Woodman Life effective January, 2024. After joining the company in April of 23 as their senior vp, what were your initial priorities stepping into this executive role and how have you evolved over the past year?
Wilbur Jenkins: Well, Brian, when I came on board with Woodman Life, I spent a lot of time in those first months listening, asking questions, and building relationships across the organization. You know, that foundation helped me to learn and identify opportunities to drive value. You know, my early focus was on strategic execution, operational efficiency, and leadership development.
Over the past year, those priorities have evolved as we’ve made progress and faced challenges. Today my focus includes digital transformation, and that’s a lot about accelerating our adoption of technology to improve the customer experience, increase our own operational agility, and drive continuous improvement.
Also about sustainable growth. I partner across the organization to support our growth efforts while maintaining our commitment to process improvement and customer value. And thirdly, talent development. I spent a lot of time driving employee engagement and development to ensure we have skilled, resilient, and a future ready workforce.
Brian Thomas: Thank you. I appreciate that. That’s a lot to take on. I know as a chief operating officer, though, you do take on that responsibility, but I like how you rolled up your sleeves when you first got there and were listening and building those relationships, which is certainly foundational. Building that trust around the organization, I heard learning and identifying opportunities to help drive value.
I like that you really are into digital transformation and helping the organization adopt technology. So appreciate that. Really do. And the next question I have for you, Wilbur, is you oversee a number of initiatives at Woodman Life with one of them being digital transformation as you previously mentioned.
How has digital transformation changed the way life insurance companies meet? Evolving customer expectations, particularly when it comes to purchasing policies and managing them online.
Wilbur Jenkins: Digital transformation has fundamentally reshaped how companies engage with customers. Today’s customers expect simplicity, speed, and transparency.
And that means offering intuitive digital experiences. Uh, I like to say throughout the customer journey with the organization, the way I think about it and the way we think about it at Woodman Life. We are focused on making it easier for customers to do business and interact with us. We are making investments in technology and user friendly platforms to enable customers interactions to be more seamless, effective, and valuable to them.
Ultimately, when I think about digital transformation, what it’s going to do, it’s going to help us meet customers where they are. And deliver values in ways that aligns with their expectations and how they want to interact.
Brian Thomas: Great. Thank you. I like how you highlighted some things around digital transformation.
At the end of the day, we want the customers to feel good about their experience, their interaction with the company they can trust, and the fact that you’re helping to meet the customers at where they’re at versus where you are at, I think was probably the the big thing that I took away. Customers are constantly looking for more value and easier ways to interact with and do business with the organization.
And you highlighted that through the work you’re doing with digital transformation, so I appreciate that. Wilbur. Some people think that digital transformation is only for millennial and Gen Z generations. Do you think that boomers are being left out of the digital era because people believe only they want that human interaction?
Wilbur Jenkins: That’s a common misconception and can be a missed opportunity. You know, while is true that boomers may value personal interaction maybe more than some of the other generations. They’re also increasingly comfortable with using digital tools, especially when those tools are intuitive and are genuinely helpful.
We believe the key is offering choice. Digital transformation isn’t about replacing human interaction, it’s about enhancing it and making it more accessible across generations. Ultimately, it’s really not about age. It’s about designing experiences that meet people where they are with the flexibility to engage the way they prefer.
Brian Thomas: Thank you. I appreciate that. And you did highlight some things. I think there’s, especially in this day of AI, is you highlighted enhancing that human connection, right? Regardless of what generation, one key thing that I wanted to highlight is boomers could be a missed opportunity if we don’t be more inclusive around the way we serve our customers.
And I think that was important, and that’s one of the big takeaways for me. Wilbur, the last question of the day. What types of technologies are being explored or used by life insurance companies to deliver a stronger digital experience for customers? Why is it so important for insurance providers to step up their interactive solutions for consumers?
Wilbur Jenkins: Life insurers, uh, life insurance companies are investing in technologies like electronic applications, digital underwriting tools, AI driven chat bots, mobile apps, self-service portals, and the like. These solutions make it easier for customers to interact and get things done. It’s important because expectations have shifted.
Consumers want speed. They want transparency and control. If a company cannot meet those expectations, you risk of becoming less relevant. You At Woodman Life, we are focused on creating an experience that delivers value for the customer throughout their journey with us is how we think about it. Brian?
Brian Thomas: Thank you, I appreciate that. I did take that away is you’re focused on that customer experience no matter where they’re at in their journey, no matter what platform or tool they’re using when doing business with Woodman Life. So I appreciate that. And also today with ai, you’d had mentioned a couple of things, but chatbots have come so far just in the last year.
It’s incredible. So I’m glad that you are embracing that technology as well. Wilburt, it was such a pleasure having you on today and I look forward to speaking with you real soon.
Wilbur Jenkins: Thank you, Brian. I look forward to it.
Brian Thomas: Bye for now.
Wilbur Jenkins Podcast Transcript. Listen to the audio on the guest’s Podcast Page.
