Jose Antonio Sesin Is the Solution Seeker

Since 2008, Jose Antonio Sesin has been senior counsel of corporate, privacy and security at Agero, an information technology (IT) services company headquartered in Medford, Massachusetts. Agero collaborates with vehicle manufacturers and insurance companies to develop cutting-edge roadside assistance technology on a massive scale.

“Basically, I develop practical solutions to complex problems. I seem to be really good at it, and I enjoy it. Throughout my career, that is what I have been doing for the companies that I have worked for,” Sesin says. “I have found that there are always multiple ways to look at things. If you’re open to finding solutions, you probably will.”

Sesin’s knack for problem-solving and can-do attitude have turned obstacles into strengths over the course of his career, a strategy he applies to almost everything—whether its navigating new regulations or managing a happy and productive team.

After cutting his teeth at public relations firm Brodeur Worldwide, Sesin found his first leadership experience at Iron Mountain, an information management and IT services company. There, he started off managing the company’s contracts team and eventually worked his way up to head of all North American contracts. He joined the company around the time when HIPAA was passed, which launched his foray into privacy law and, at the same time, saw an opportunity to leverage law as a business tool.

“At that, at that point, everybody was thinking, ‘How can I get this off my plate and how does it not apply to me?’” Sesin recalls. “I looked at that as a different way of saying, well, if we have this, it might be a way for us to expand our market share in the healthcare market. If we’re the only company that is doing these things, we can actually use that as a benefit.”

Unafraid of a risk and a challenge, Sesin decided to move on from Iron Mountain to join the much smaller and up-and-coming Agero in 2008, right in the middle of the financial crisis. He was brought on to help build out Agero’s legal team from the ground up.

“It was a completely different atmosphere,” Sesin reflects. “It was basically just me and the general counsel at that time.”

Since then, Agero has nearly tripled in size, going from about $400 million in revenue to over a billion. Now, in 2024, Sesin tackles the new hurdle challenging the legal world: artificial intelligence (AI). True to form, he is invigorated by the new possibilities and seeks out ways to harness the power of AI while placing sensible guardrails in place. He opts for policies that are mindful of context, likening the technology to a car, an apt analogy in the vehicle safety industry.

“It’s one of those things that if you do it right, it can work very well,” Sesin says. “If you’re driving a car and you crash at five miles an hour, you’re going to be OK. But if you’re going one hundred miles an hour, you’re probably not.”

Sesin emphasizes the use of AI as a great supplemental tool to make one’s work more efficient. However, due to its capacity for hallucinations and misinformation, it can’t be trusted yet to replace the real human brains and expertise behind the work.

“People sometimes wonder if artificial intelligence is going to come in and take their job. The truth is probably not,” Sesin says. “What may happen is that one of your colleagues who uses artificial intelligence might take your job. It’s the uniting of human know-how and artificial intelligence used the right way that is going to be the winning combination going forward.”

Sesin’s leadership style also means he is consistent in his search for opportunities. He actively seeks to understand the preferences and priorities of his team members so that he can place them in positions where they will fare well, not only honored but leveraged.

“Some people want to come in late and leave late, because they’re night owls. So, I would try to match them up with somebody that likes to arrive early and leave early,” Sesin says. “So, now they are empowered to work together to make their own schedules and still provide full coverage. Plus, you have two people that are actually much happier.”

When asked what advice he has for young professionals coming up in the industry, Sesin pointed out that people are often anxious to get on the so-called right path.

“It’s easy to worry that you are thinking about option A or B, and that you will discover that you really should have picked option C,” Sesin says. “The most important thing is to figure out what direction you want to go in right now and know that it might change. Then, you have to be open.”

To sum up, Sesin quoted his grandfather, “Haz bien y no mires a quien.” Do good, no matter to who.