Brief Case: Ani Matson, NEA Member Benefits

Ani Matson, EMBA ’03, thinks about her parents when she serves her clients. The daughter of two schoolteachers, Matson is chief marketing officer of NEA Member Benefits, an organization that provides benefits to teachers.

“The fact that I am working to provide a service for educators, it is like doing something for my mom and dad,” she says.

At 3 million members, the National Education Association is the largest union in the United States. NEA Member Benefits is the for-profit entity of the organization and is dedicated to bettering the lives of educators through programs and services. This includes offering retirement plans, cheaper insurance options, credit cards with better rates, and other various discounts that are not available to the general public.

“My team’s job is to make the deals and promote them to the membership,” Matson says. “We have  contracts with about 35 partners in financial services, insurance and other discounts.”

Matson focuses her efforts on building and managing long-lasting relationships with these partners. “We have researched the marketplace and we have gotten the best deals, so teachers do not have to spend their time making these types of decisions. We take the headaches away so they can focus on teaching our children.”

In her role as chief marketing officer, Matson shifted from a management role to a leadership role with a team of 65 people. She says change came with the challenge of learning to not do everything herself. “I focused on building a very strong direct report team, giving them the freedom and responsibility to run their departments effectively and keeping me in the loop of successes and issues,” she says.

Matson says her commitment to avoid micromanagement also requires her team to make adjustments as they learn to embrace the culture of accountability. “When someone comes to me asking, ‘What should I do?’ I like to ask what his or her recommendation would be first,” she says. “If I always tell my team what I would do in a situation, I am not enabling them to be critical thinkers and solve problems on their own.”

Ani and her husband live in Silver Spring, Md.