By Paul Schott
Journal Inquirer, Manchester, Conn.
(TNS)
From an early age, Leigh D’Andrea has valued teamwork.
Growing up in the Boston area, she played baseball and softball. When she was not playing, she enjoyed Red Sox games at Fenway Park with her “grandparents,” the couple who had sponsored her family’s move to the U.S. from Vietnam when she was 3 years old.
In the early 2010s, D’Andrea began coaching when her two oldest sons started playing baseball in New Canaan. Their teams won local and regional championships, and one represented Connecticut at the 10-and-under 2019 Cal Ripken Baseball World Series. Her second-oldest son, Nico, played on that team and now plays baseball at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts.
D’Andrea has balanced baseball coaching with her work in the Stamford offices of Deloitte, one of the world’s largest professional-services firms. After 25 years at the firm, she became the Stamford offices’ managing principal in June. In the new role, she oversees about 1,100 employees across audit and assurance, consulting and tax practices.
In a recent interview with CT Insider, D’Andrea discussed how her experience playing and coaching baseball has influenced her work at Deloitte, what she has learned from other managers at the firm and the impact of artificial intelligence.
Q: Why did you start coaching baseball when your two oldest sons were 4 years old and 5 years old?
Leigh D’Andrea: We had just moved to New Canaan from Stamford. At the first day of T-ball practice, I was watching these dads try to teach my kids how to field, hit the ball, and I thought, “Oh, boy, this needs some intervention.” I played baseball until I was 13, and then I switched over to softball, and then played all through high school.
And so I just volunteered to jump in to help the parents. Then one of the members on the New Canaan baseball board noticed and asked if I wanted to officially coach the team.
Q: After coaching T-ball, you co-founded a travel-baseball team for New Canaan players 8 and younger, and you became the chief financial officer of New Canaan’s youth-baseball program, leading a campaign that raised more than $1 million in private and town funds for improvements to Mellick and Gamble fields at Mead Park. How did that effort shape your approach to leadership?
D’Andrea: We committed to the goal before we had every answer. We believed the challenge could be solved and then brought together the people and community support to make it possible. With the community’s help, we raised more than $500,000, and the town contributed another half-million. That experience shaped my leadership philosophy: Commit to what matters, believe a solution is possible, and build it together.
Q: How would you describe your leadership style?
D’Andrea: I would describe myself as a hands-on leader. It’s like when I was coaching the kids. Every kid has different skills and different strengths, and it was my job to really learn the strengths of each kid, and then help them play to those strengths. It’s the same thing here. I spend a lot of time thinking about my people, what they’re really good at, what they enjoy doing, where they choose to put their energy. And then I find roles that fit them. In that way, they’re going to succeed.
Q: Which Major League Baseball manager do you admire?
D’Andrea: My favorite manager in Major League Baseball is Dave Roberts (of the Los Angeles Dodgers) because he puts relationships first. He’s very good at getting his players to step up when he needs them to step up. He connects with them because he was once a player himself.
He doesn’t use his title as manager to force things to happen and to demand things of his players. It’s because he’s very focused on relationships and communicates well with them. He’s very approachable, very personable, very humble. Those are all the qualities that I think make a great leader.
Q: What qualities do you value in the people you manage at Deloitte?
D’Andrea: One of the qualities that I think is an indicator of future success is coachability. How coachable is the player or the associate?
I also want to be coached. If someone has feedback for me, I’m very open to it because I want to be a good coach, and I want to be a good leader. It’s not just dishing out the feedback. You need to take the feedback.
Q: Your predecessor, Heather Ziegler, was Deloitte’s Stamford managing partner from 2015 to 2026. What have you learned from her?
D’Andrea: Over the last 20 or so years, Heather has been an incredible mentor to me. We have very different leadership styles, but I respect her very much for her discipline.
I learned a lot from her about the firm and how the firm operates. She was very instrumental in teaching me how to be more collaborative across the different businesses, particularly in Stamford, and gave me a lot of opportunities.
Q: What is the role of artificial intelligence at Deloitte?
D’Andrea: You can use AI to really do deep research. You can’t put AI in front of a client. But you can put a human in front of a client, and be able to communicate with the client, and be able to articulate the research.
The technical or technological competence is very important, but it’s not sufficient on its own. Interpersonal skills and communication skills that really help you develop meaningful relationships with clients—that’s really important.
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© 2026 Journal Inquirer, Manchester, Conn.. Visit www.journalinquirer.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency LLC.
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