Gail Kelman

Head of Learning & Career Development Guardian Life

Gail has been part of the insurance and financial services industry since 1988, starting in an independent agency and moving through a variety of roles within the business, including compliance, sales related technology, product development and advanced markets.   In 2006, she accidentally stumbled into her true passion, developing talent.   Over the years, Gail has won numerous awards for the development programs she has designed and implemented and is most proud of Guardian’s recognition as a Training Top 125 company.

Today, Gail is embedded in Corporate Human Resources responsible for talent development and talent management processes, including Guardian’s Summer Intern Program.   She focuses on driving profitable and strategic growth through the alignment of the talent strategy and the business strategy ensuring that Guardian’s talent is developed to optimize the business today and innovate and prepare for the future. Guardian is committed to preparing our associates with the skills they need for the future of work, and Gail is firmly in the center of these initiatives. She is unrelenting in her commitment to measurably improving business performance by employing a progressive set of talent strategies to assess, develop, grow and move high-potential talent across the organization, enabling both growth and operational efficiency.

Gail has a Bachelor of Science degree from Rutgers University School of Business, Douglass College as well as multiple insurance industry designations.  She is a certified virtual trainer and is affiliated with ATD, The Center for Creative Leadership and Harvard Business Publishing Corporate Learning Group, among others.  She has been nominated for Guardian’s highest recognition, the CEO award, multiple times. Over the past several years, Gail implemented a Board level, multi-pronged strategic plan to drive gender balance and cultural change in the sales organization.  She helped to edit, and is quoted in the book “The New Advantage” authored by Dr. Joelle Jay and in April 2018, was featured in career section of the The Wall Street Journal in an article entitled “How to Mount an Executive Comeback.”

Gail lives in tranquil Hunterdon County, New Jersey, with her husband, David, a one-eyed cat named Junior and a feisty Jack Russell terrier named Boomer.