Charles DeSantis

Associate Vice President for Benefits and Chief Benefits Officer
Age: 44
Hometown: San Francisco, Calif.
Time at Georgetown: 8 years

What brought you to come work at Georgetown?
I was a San Franciscan, and I had really no desire to live on the East Coast. For me, what was really germane about moving here and what got me was that I actually met the people. And the people at Georgetown I was interviewing with, the mission and the students really connected for me, and it wasn’t something I expected because I had previously worked at Stanford and really loved that opportunity out there, but this was a scenario that really, really got me. It actually kind of transformed and changed my life.

Can you describe your position?
My role, I kind of think of it as community care. Being able to provide benefits, health care, retirement and other benefits that employees and community members of the university have access to is the role that I oversee. I make sure that the community has the benefits they need for retirement. I make sure that they get paid — through being the head of payroll — as well as we make sure we have the resources to provide people wellness through our GU Wellness program that we started in 2007. I feel like that’s one piece of my role. The other piece of my role is we have students like you who are the reason that I’m here; the whole reason I work at Georgetown is to make sure that we provide people the tools they need to help teach people like you.

How has the process of providing benefits changed since you first came to Georgetown?
It’s evolved pretty dramatically. When I got here in 2006, we had two health plans. We had two choices of coverage: You could be a family coverage or you could be a single-employee coverage, but there was no gray area in between. We only had Kaiser and [UnitedHealthcare]. We didn’t have a wellness program, we didn’t have an updated website, [and] we didn’t have communications; we didn’t have all those pieces that for me feel like the right thing to do when you’re giving somebody something that’s very important to their personal living scenarios. Everybody needs benefits, everybody needs health care, everybody wants to save for retirement, everybody wants tuition assistance — everybody wants all these pieces, and you have to find the right vehicles to give them those tools. There’s a whole team of people that work in benefits and payroll and wellness that all actually work every day to serve this community at its highest level through the outreach that we do, the service portal we have, through the way we design our plans. That has changed. And also, you know, the laws have changed. … It’s kind of what keeps you fresh.

What changes do you foresee in the future, and what improvements need to be made?
The thing to know about this type of business is that we are in a constant change mode because you have to be in front of benefits; you can’t just let them languish. You have to really look at the regulations, the changes in the marketplace and the needs of the people you serve. One of the biggest issues that we’re facing — issue is the wrong term, but it comes from the Affordable Care Act implementation and how we have to look at that. There are a lot of moving parts in that, so it’s like making sure there’s a uniform way of counting hours and how do you look at the different populations we serve in that. That is probably one of my biggest challenges right now.

What are some of your memorable moments from your time at Georgetown?
There’s been many moments, and some of those moments are probably very similar to the reason [students] come here. I think they say that student engagement happens within the first 10 seconds that you hit the campus— there’s a feeling, there’s an experience, there’s those types of things. I have had those very similar experiences of this is where I belong. … I will be a Hoya for life. But I think the interesting thing is that there are moments when you help people or you’re talking to somebody and you realize they’re in crisis, and you can actually fix it. I remember talking to someone who had lost their health care through their spouse and didn’t come to us and tell us that — [this person was] uncovered and was paying exorbitant amounts of dollars toward something we can cover. I looked at the person and said: “You had a qualified changed. The law allows us to put you on your benefits. Let’s fix this.” And this person kind of looked at me and just sobbed, and you’re like, wow, we make an impact on people. It continues to inspire me to help us engage people at the highest level and to communicate the highest needs.

What does Georgetown do well?
I definitely think it’s the community and the people. You see something different than how I see. You are the recipient of what we do. I am somebody who serves the people that deliver the goals, so we are all kind of connected in the mission. When we’re having a challenging time meeting our goals and our mission and dealing with financial constraints and all that stuff, the thing that I most appreciate about Georgetown is that the community comes together and supports one another, even though it’s not always fun.

What’s an area in which Georgetown can improve?
Well, we’re always improving, right? For 225 years we’ve been improving. I think that’s a hard one to answer in a singular way. I think we really have an obligation and a passion to serve our mission. Being men and women for others and serving that mission of teaching, research and learning and creating the best humans possible. It’s just being as in front of that as you can. It’s hard to do—I mean, we’re worldwide, we’re all over the map, we’re trying to be the best we can be. We’re all over, trying to bring together this place. And I think we’re just being the best we can be, and improving upon that, there’s not a way to articulate how would you wipe it clean and improve. You can’t: We’re an engine and a vehicle that’s fueled by current obligations and desires to do greater things. You know, I think the campus plan is one aspect of really trying to serve the community of the students; that’s one thing. Then the new school, the McCourt School [of Public Policy], that came out of a tremendous generosity of [Frank] McCourt to be able to serve our institution at a higher level, and I think what we do is continue to work to serve at the highest level. You know we just reopened the chapel. That was amazing. That came out of the generosity of people understanding our desire to continue to improve what we do. I think just to be focused on that and sometimes it’s hard to know what the exact focus is when you have a lot of things going.

Is there anything you’d like to add?
I think the thing that is kind of amazing about Georgetown is it is a center of community and inclusion. Everything in my life changed coming to Georgetown. It feels kind of pedestrian to say it this way, but I feel kind of like I was a student coming to Georgetown. You know, I think the most pivotal years are when students are exploring who they are and what they’ll be when they grow up. I kind of feel like that same thing happened for me. I came here, I had a partnership when I came here, that person and I separated [and] the community was very supportive of me. Then, years later, I had another partner, who I am now married to, and he and I have four children, and we adopted kids, and this community rallied behind me. It also connected me to how I feel and think about serving people, and I never really envisioned that I would have this service mentality that I have today. It’s done things that I didn’t imagine.

Interview by Robert DePaolo