John Fees

Q: What most notably stands out about your leadership style or what is an example of leadership success you can share with our readers?

Do the right thing. It is simple but guides any of my leadership functions and all our success at GradGuard.

We do the right thing for each of our stakeholders, including the schools and students we serve, for our team members who help keep our commitments and to our other vital partners, be it investors or business partners.

In business, catching people doing the right thing in both small and big ways is essential. From cleaning up the office sink to taking out boxes to the trash or assuring that we treat each of our customers the way we expect to be treated, at GradGuard everyone contributes to doing the right thing and speaking the truth no matter how uncomfortable.

At GradGuard, this has also become a standard business practice — not just for ordinary conduct of our team members but also in how we recognize “uncomfortable truths,” which is a common slide in company meetings. Welcoming radical candor, even when uncomfortable, is essential to making sound decisions.

Q: What impact have any disruptions of the past 18 months had on you as a leader?

During disruptions, it is always vital to have a compass that keeps everyone focused on true north. While the compass helps us stay focused at GradGuard, a core function of leaders is to go a step further and to also accurately define reality. Within our organization, it is essential that our leaders clarify that reality and define where we are starting today, not just in what direction we are headed.

One of the largest disruptions is the efforts made by our adversaries to politically divide us. A divided country is bad for our communities. Our adversaries benefit when we are confused and divided. Just think of the energy used to discredit vital institutions and, more specifically, our elections and vaccines. While I hold space for a discussion, in both cases we see confusion being promoted to the detriment of our community. Generating mistrust among our neighbors and colleagues is detrimental to our nation’s health.

As ordinary Americans, we need to recognize that we agree on more than we disagree. We can agree that the literacy and health of all citizens is essential — not just to be able to participate in our democracy but also to be able to contribute to our workforce and the health of our economy.

Q: What do you feel we can be doing as a business community to empower economic growth here?

Business leaders have a duty to speak the truth, no matter how uncomfortable.

The collapse of local media combined with online media platforms whose algorithms deliver each of us a different form of content has quickly eroded common knowledge within Arizona.

The Arizona business community can make a difference by supporting local journalism that builds our common knowledge of the reality within our communities.

As just one example, basic literacy of third graders is a massive issue for Arizona. The most current report of the Arizona Progress Meter from Education Forward Arizona & Center for the Future of Arizona reveals that only 40% of Arizona third graders are proficient in reading.

We can all agree that a 40% literacy rate is unacceptable. Business leaders must demand a different result.

Every business leader can help by becoming involved today. Volunteer to support an existing nonprofit organization and encourage colleagues to do the same.

Q: What is new and notable for your company’s near future that will impact our economy?

The rapid changes in the economy due to AI and new, often unpredictable, economic policies (tariffs and a closed federal government) make it essential for leaders to identify new and emerging risks.

We all benefit when more of our citizens have credentials that enable them to contribute directly to our community — from nurses to electricians, teachers to plumbers, doctors to welders — credentials assure that we have competence across our Arizona community.

GradGuard aims to reduce the risks of college life and in so doing reduce the cost of college and promote greater student success.

GradGuard’s technology platform and pioneering insurance programs help schools and their students to overcome unexpected events that can disrupt their education.

We believe that all students and families deserve the opportunity to protect their investment in a higher education, and anticipate hundreds of more institutions joining our network of schools.