How Insurance & Technology's Elite 8 Balance Work and Life

In today's highly charged insurance market, the pressure on technology executives can be extreme. Here's how some of the 2012 Elite 8 leaders balance their work and personal lives.

Making Beautiful Music

Mark Clark, CIO, Jackson National Life, suspects that if you have a mind for programming, you probably also have a mind for music. He's putting the theory to the test by endeavoring to teach himself piano, which he says is fun and takes his mind off of pressing concerns. "I've always heard that IT and music go together, and we've had music majors on the floor," he comments.

To learn the piano, Clark is using a method designed for busy adults, which he says is moving him forward -- albeit at a slow pace. "Music is very logical, and I get that part of it," Clark reports. "It's making my fingers do what my mind wants them to do that is the hard part!"

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

When he's not in the office, there's nothing Sal Abano likes better than spending time with his family -- at Yankee Stadium. Abano, who has two daughters in their 20s, is spending quite a bit of time keeping up with his 16-year-old son Anthony's cross-country, baseball and basketball games. But that doesn't stop the die-hard Yankees family from seeing professional events. "We see 10 to 15 games a year, and when we watch the Yankees away, we also try to catch a game at a nearby National League park," Abano says.

Anthony O'Donnell has covered technology in the insurance industry since 2000, when he joined the editorial staff of Insurance & Technology. As an editor and reporter for I&T and the InformationWeek Financial Services of TechWeb he has written on all areas of information ... View Full Bio

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