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Spotlight on MassMutual’s CMO Meghan Doscher

June 2026

What do you consider your biggest professional accomplishment and why?

Prior to joining MassMutual, I was appointed chief marketing officer (CMO) of Brighthouse Financial when the company was just two years old and facing a defining challenge: building a credible stand-alone brand while fundamentally rethinking how marketing fueled growth. As we moved beyond the “established by MetLife” halo, we took intentional steps to align marketing investment with the company’s strategic reality — shifting from broad consumer awareness to a sharper business‑to‑business‑to‑consumer (B2B2C) model focused on advisors.

Through a rigorous test‑and‑learn approach, we reallocated investment toward higher‑impact channels, clearer advisor value propositions, and performance‑driven activation. The result was a leaner, more focused marketing engine that sustained strong brand health, grew marketing‑driven sales, improved net promoter score (NPS) and culture, and demonstrated that disciplined choices — rather than sheer spend — can successfully drive durable brand and business outcomes.

What sets your company apart from others in your industry?

MassMutual stands apart because we’re a mutual company, owned by our policyowners, which allows us to focus on long‑term client value rather than short‑term shareholder returns. We deliver an integrated approach to protection, wealth, and financial planning, powered by trusted advisors who own the client relationship and are supported by scale, strength and sophisticated capabilities. At the core of it all is trust — earned over generations through financial strength, stability, and a client‑first mindset that competitors can’t easily replicate.

What are your primary goals as a leader for this year?

In 2026, my focus is on evolving MassMutual’s Brand & Marketing organization more intensely into a sales‑aligned growth engine, operating with clear accountability and outcomes — first, by deeply aligning marketing to distribution by delivering advisor‑ready, sales‑led marketing embedded at moments that matter. Second, we are establishing a more modern marketing operating system — shared metrics, dashboards, prioritization, and governance — so leaders trust marketing decisions and investments. Third, we are further modernizing the MassMutual brand narrative to reflect our fullest value proposition, balancing mutuality and legacy with wealth, advice, artificial intelligence (AI), and experiential relevance.

How do you see AI and generative AI reshaping strategic objectives and business operations in your company?

AI is now an audience, not just a tool. Large language models shape what clients and financial professionals see, trust and act on. Winning means your content is clear, credible, structured, and context-rich so AI can surface it. It’s no longer just SEO- it’s about training the model through consistent signals: expertise, authority, and relevance. Firms must understand how AI retrieves and synthesizes information, then create optimally structured content that answers real questions directly from a credentialed place of authority. If you’re not making your brand visible in AI-generated responses, you’re invisible to a growing share of decision-makers.

How would you describe your leadership style, and how does it influence your team’s/organization’s culture?

I’m a business-first, empathetic, execution-driven leader. I listen deeply, respect institutional history, and act with urgency, accountability, and measurable outcomes. I build high-performing teams grounded in mutual trust and psychological safety — where we win together and learn together. We challenge each other, push beyond comfort zones, stay anchored in business reality (even against the grain), and prioritize what matters most. I favor pilots and learning over perfection paralysis, set high standards, and expect ownership at every level. I connect work to enterprise and sales impact while staying human-centered, adaptive, and steady through change.

How is your company helping to educate consumers about the value of your products?

At MassMutual, we educate consumers and policyowners through advice, not product pitches. We focus on helping people understand the real financial challenges they face — longevity, income certainty, protection, and legacy — so decisions are rooted in needs, not features. Financial advisors and sales intermediaries are central to that education, supported by clear content, planning tools, and experiences that make complex topics accessible and relevant. This advice‑led approach, paired with our long‑term strength and credibility, helps consumers understand not just what our products do, but why they matter over a lifetime.

What are some of the biggest challenges currently facing the industry, and how is your company addressing them?

The industry is at an inflection point shaped by Peak 65, the Great Wealth Transfer, and a growing gap with advisor retirements. More Americans need advice around retirement income, longevity, and legacy, just as wealth shifts to younger, more diverse generations with different expectations. At the same time, demand for advice is outpacing advisor capacity.

MassMutual is addressing this by reaching people through multiple channels and by helping advisors scale — through better tools, technology, and insights — and by leading with client needs rather than products. Our long‑term, mutual mindset allows us to invest through cycles so advisors can deliver trusted, holistic advice across generations.

How do you see the CMO Committee evolving in the next five years?

Over the next five years, the LIMRA CMO Committee will be more mission critical than ever. Marketing is evolving faster than any one company can keep up with, driven by AI, data, changing advisor models, and rising client expectations. The real risk isn’t disruption — it’s false certainty. The committee’s power will be in learning together, openly sharing what’s working, what’s failing, and what’s next. In a world where best practices age out quickly, collective learning becomes the industry’s fastest competitive advantage.

Meghan Doscher serves on LIMRA and LOMA’s Chief Marketing Officer Committee.

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