What brought me to Citizens 

Before joining Citizens, I was working at a medical contact center in Boston. A friend's recommendation about the company’s culture intrigued me, and I joined in 2017. It’s been an amazing journey ever since. 

I don’t let things scare me 

I joined Citizens as a Senior Manager in Colleague 2 Colleague (C2C), offering branch support and worked my way through a variety of roles since joining. When the COVID pandemic hit, my manager encouraged me to consider expanding my responsibilities to support the Contact Center as they transition to a work-from-home environment, a task that was completely new to me and something the company had never done before, but one I was excited to tackle. A key to my success was definitely my eagerness to learn.  And as a result of this experience, I was offered a new role as a Business Support Manager II in the Contact Center.

I thrive on figuring things out and tackling new challenges, especially with a brain like mine that loves technology – I don’t let things scare me. This is a big reason why the next step in my career was to support the Contact Center with our first colleague-facing experience in GenerativeAI, as we worked to replace DASY, the current Knowledge Management System, with SAGE, which will roll out in 2025. I served as the experience owner throughout this transition. I really committed to that role through self-education and embracing GenAI tools for non-Citizens questions, leaning into my curiosity, and finding people who have more subject matter expertise than me. Ultimately, I learn through on-the-job training just as much as ‘formal’ training and I’m always accountable for ensuring I’m taking charge of my own growth.  

Citizens has flexed with me as I’ve journeyed through this part of my life 

At the same time my career has grown, my family has too. I’m a family man with four daughters, and being a parent is core to who I am as a person. You could say that Citizens has flexed with me as I’ve journeyed through this part of my life. I love building new skills and leaning into my network to help me fill knowledge gaps. Even things I’m learning on the job I apply at home. I’m often facilitating financial literacy courses on behalf of the company, and I can use so much of that to teach my kids about finances. That wasn’t around when I was growing up! Recently, I applied some agile methodologies to keep the family life running smoothly. We fail fast, have fun and keep going!   

I love what I do today

I volunteer a lot within the Spanish community, and my current work aligns perfectly with this passion. I'm part of the Emerging Markets team in Community Development. I often think of my grandmother, who didn’t speak any English. Making our products and services more accessible is my dream. It’s professionally and personally fulfilling—helping customers and supporting their needs. And it’s my curiosity, resilience and passion that got me here! 

If I could leave you with 3 pieces of advice, they would be: