Diane Ellsworth is the chief of staff of Nassau Financial Group, a Hartford-based financial services company with insurance, reinsurance and asset management businesses.
Ellsworth is responsible for ensuring strategic initiatives are on track, working with the executive team and all business and staff areas and leading Nassau’s communications and community engagement functions.
She joined the company in 1996 and spent her early career in corporate services. She then moved to investor relations and held a series of increasingly senior positions working with investors, analysts and rating agencies. Before taking on her current role in 2018, she was an assistant vice president in finance.
What have been your biggest professional accomplishments so far?
I believe my biggest accomplishments have been as chief of staff, taking a loosely defined role and being able to make a real impact on major initiatives including acquisitions and capital raising. My job is to ‘keep things on track,’ which means doing everything to ensure the team succeeds.
What’s the next big goal you want to accomplish professionally?
I want to continue playing a pivotal role in growing Nassau and developing my team. I expect we will maintain our pace of the last few years, which means we have a lot to do and some excellent opportunities ahead for us.
We are also expanding our community engagement program and I am excited to offer more to Hartford and to our employees.
What’s one of the biggest professional challenges you’ve overcome?
I’d have to say it was the 2008-2009 financial crisis. I was working in investor relations at the time and it felt like we lived in crisis mode every single day.
In the end, the company adapted and survived and I personally became more resilient and calmer in stressful situations.
Who has been your most important mentor and why?
I am fortunate to have had many mentors, although Naomi Kleinman stands out. Working together for years, she taught me so much of what is now my skillset as well as how to deal with challenging situations.
She also showed me the importance of giving back to the community and keeping my personal commitments no matter how busy it gets at work.