Podcasts

Inside Vanguard’s CX modernization journey with Aaron Taylor, Personal Investor CIO, and Marco De Freitas, Head of CX and Digital

  • As Vanguard became more committed to modernizing its CX, it made key investments in its team, structures, processes, skillsets, and technology stack.
  • Leaders from the personal investment side of the business join us on the podcast to discuss how one of the largest asset managers in the world is aligning design with more positive customer outcomes.
close

Email a Friend

Inside Vanguard’s CX modernization journey with Aaron Taylor, Personal Investor CIO, and Marco De Freitas, Head of CX and Digital

Welcome to another episode of The Tearsheet Podcast, where we explore financial services together with an eye on technology, innovation, emerging models, and changing expectations. I’m Tearsheet’s editor in chief, Zack Miller. In this episode, we’ll be diving deep into the world of customer experience (CX) transformation with Vanguard, one of the leading names in investment management. Joining us are Aaron Taylor, Chief Information Officer, and Marco De Freitas, Head of CX and Digital, two seasoned professionals who have been instrumental in Vanguard’s CX modernization journey. Throughout our conversation, we’ll explore Vanguard’s approach to modernizing its digital channels, client journeys, and service platforms. From laying down the foundational pillars to unlocking the potential of ‘CX Alpha’, Aaron and Marco share invaluable insights into how Vanguard is improving the way clients interact with their services. We’ll delve into the parallel advancements made by Vanguard, the impact of fintech innovations on their CX strategy, and how they measure the success of their initiatives both internally and with clients. Stay tuned as we uncover the seminal steps behind Vanguard’s CX transformation, explore the significance of data accessibility and personalized interventions, and discover what lies ahead in their journey towards even greater CX innovation. So sit back, relax, and get ready to embark on an insightful episode into Vanguard’s CX modernization journey. Let’s dive in! The big ideas

  1. Foundational Pillars of CX Transformation:
    • “I think we always looked at the transformation of CX… kind of almost like a ziggurat format here… I think where it goes next is the next layer up of that ziggurat, which is actually… how can we add more value to our clients?”
  2. Influence of Fintech Innovations on CX Strategy:
    • “How they [fintechs] do that? Now, how do they… reduce steps in certain things? How do they, from a design perspective… influence our thinking. So there’s more on the how and what we present.”
  3. Client-Centric Metrics for Success:
    • “For us, our success has to be what clients tell us… We’re focused on client satisfaction, loyalty… Are they bringing more money to us?”
  4. Value Realization through Personalized Interventions:
    •  “These digital interventions have to be really relevant to you as the individual… You don’t get to personalization unless you have really good access to your data, really good understandability of your data.”
  5. Focus on Speed and Agility:
    • “A big why for this investment, and transformation, was around making sure that these journeys and these experiences are always… more snappy and always available to our clients.”
  6. Continuous Improvement and Future Outlook:
    • “So just so exciting for us day to day to see our teams… be able to leverage now, the data and these technologies in a ways that was just really hard and expensive for them to do in the past.”

Listen to the full episode

 
Read the transcript (for TS Pro subscribers)

subscription wall for TS Pro  

0 comments on “Inside Vanguard’s CX modernization journey with Aaron Taylor, Personal Investor CIO, and Marco De Freitas, Head of CX and Digital”

Partner Content, Podcasts

What Bluevine learned from $2 billion in mobile check deposits and a growing partner stack

  • Bluevine’s SVP and GM of checking and payments explains how the digital bank decides which jobs to take on for small business owners, and what it takes to make a partner's product feel like its own.
  • Cooper also discusses what Bluevine learned from processing more than $2 billion in mobile check deposits without branches, and why he expects most owners to choose the provider they trust over the best tool for every task.
Zack Miller | November 05, 2026
Opinion, Podcasts

If you disappeared tomorrow, would your customers care?

  • In Episode 3 of TER, Sara and Zack discuss what makes a fintech indispensable and which companies could disappear without customers noticing much of a difference.
  • Zack picks PayPal for its role in opening up online commerce. Sara names Wise and Stripe, where value comes from solving recurring problems and becoming embedded in business operations.
Sara Khairi | November 04, 2026
Partner Content, Podcasts

Banks look to close the expectation gap with data, real-time infrastructure, and human judgment

  • Executives from Regions Bank and Temenos explain how a bank’s data, real-time infrastructure, and AI controls, combined with human judgment, can close the gap between what customers expect and what banks deliver, from personalized advice to payments.
  • They discuss how Regions is applying generative AI with people in the loop, why security and convenience anchor its payments strategy, and what it takes to earn a larger share of a customer’s financial life.
Zack Miller | November 03, 2026
Partner, Podcasts

Why small businesses hesitate on AI in finance, and how BILL is addressing it

  • Small and midsize businesses want the time and cost savings AI can offer, but hesitate to hand over their financial operations, so BILL built its new AI suite around three pillars: accuracy, control, and security.
  • According to BILL’s Tara Wellington, the company’s own risk platform saw about $1.5 BILLion in potentially risky or mistaken payments last year. For her, that kind of data is what lets the risk agent flag issues at the moment they matter, helping keep operations moving smoothly.
Rabab Ahsan | October 22, 2026
Partner, Podcasts

Why B2B payments are a whole-journey problem ft. TreviPay

  • Digital-native buyers are rewriting the rules of B2B payments, demanding consumer-grade convenience, flexible terms, and openness to stablecoins and AI, while sellers race to keep their best customers happy under tight credit conditions
  • TreviPay’s Allen Bonde explains why today’s AI mostly assists rather than replaces human buyers, and what it will take for banks, networks, and fintechs to build the shared infrastructure that could change that.
Rabab Ahsan | October 21, 2026
More Articles