Jerome Upton still remembers the silence that descends just before a game begins. As captain of a college team, he’d scan the huddle, gauge nerves, and ask, “What does winning look like today?” “That’s where I learned the power of shared goals,” Upton tells us. Years later, the Genworth Financial CFO opens staff meetings similarly—then gives teammates room to execute.
Read MoreThe first bold play of his career came soon after graduation. At a small insurer, Upton stunned mentors by jumping to KPMG. “I needed wider fields,” he explains. Eight years of audits sharpened his technical vision, yet the move that truly stretched him arrived when GE Capital—Genworth’s predecessor—offered a divisional‑controller seat with global scope. Overnight his “team” expanded ten‑fold, teaching him to win through trust rather than touch‑every‑file oversight.
International assignments followed: boardrooms in Europe, investor roadshows in Asia, client visits in Latin America. Hearing customers critique products in real time “made finance feel less like a ledger and more like a heartbeat,” he says. That perspective proved vital during Genworth’s post‑crisis crossroads. Tasked with raising capital quickly, Upton orchestrated a minority IPO of a foreign subsidiary, executed at speed and premium valuation. The deal slashed leverage and revealed hidden asset value.
Today his playbook balances share buybacks and debt reduction with growth bets such as CareScout. Multi‑year downside modeling safeguards the core, while his Gretzkyesque mantra—skate where the puck is going—keeps him focused on tomorrow’s opportunity.
Made Possible By
CFOTL: You entered the CFO office at Genworth in 2023. What is Genworth Financial today, and what is this company about?
Upton: I’ve been here more than 20 years, and I’m proud of what this company does and of our people. Our mission rests on two pillars.
• Accelerating home ownership. Through Enact Mortgage Insurance (we own 81%), we help first‑time, low‑down‑payment borrowers buy homes sooner. Without this product many could not enter the market, so we not only expand access to the American dream but also jump‑start wealth accumulation for young families.
Read More• Empowering families to navigate aging. In our U.S. Life business—and in our new venture, CareScout—we apply decades of long‑term‑care expertise. We serve more than one million policyholders, pay thousands of claims, and have built deep intellectual property around aging, care planning and assessment. CareScout is creating an ecosystem of care and funding solutions: a credentialed Quality Network of roughly 500 providers across all 50 states, rigorous screening for person‑centered care, and (a foundation for) a more affordable long‑term‑care insurance product we aim to launch in 2025.
The market is enormous: over 70 million (Americans) are 65 or older today, and 10,000 more reach that milestone every day until 2030; seven in ten will need some form of long‑term care. As Wayne Gretzky said, we’re skating to where the puck is going. By leveraging Enact’s earnings and liquidity, our long‑term‑care know‑how, and the scalability of CareScout, we’re positioning Genworth for its next chapter of growth.
Genworth Financial | www.genworth.com | Richmond, VA