Northwestern Mutual Celebrates Grand Opening of Innovation Lab

MILWAUKEE, Oct. 2, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Northwestern Mutual today announced the grand opening of its innovation lab, Cream City Labs, located at the company's downtown Milwaukee headquarters. The lab is designed to advance innovation, ideation and experimentation for employees and community partners, including local startups.

Experience the interactive Multichannel News Release here: https://www.multivu.com/players/English/8239956-northwestern-mutual-opens-innovation-lab-cream-city-labs/

"Cream City Labs demonstrates our commitment to providing our employees with skills, opportunities and space to innovate and embrace an entrepreneurial mindset as we work to transform how people experience financial security," said Karl Gouverneur, vice president of digital workplace, corporate solutions and head of digital innovation at Northwestern Mutual. "The lab enables our employees to connect with digital innovators and creative thinkers both within and outside of the organization, driving innovation forward both in our company and our community."

The 17,000-square-foot lab provides a collaborative and creative space that encourages new ways of thinking to deliver a leading digital experience for the company's clients and financial advisors. In addition to physical space, Northwestern Mutual has a dedicated digital innovation program, which includes initiatives such as an internal venture fund, hackathons and ideation campaigns, that has generated more than $100 million in business value since its inception nearly a decade ago.

The innovation lab is open to all employees and provides workspace for students and faculty in the Northwestern Mutual Data Science Institute. It also houses Cream City Venture Capital portfolio companies to provide access to Northwestern Mutual mentors, technologists and business resources as they grow their startups.

"Cream City Labs represents the next step in our company's innovation journey as we continue to accelerate our creative planning and experimentation to secure a competitive advantage in a rapidly changing industry," said Gouverneur.

Cream City Labs also includes a dedicated space for mentoring, design thinking and innovation focused events such as hackathons, meetups, STEM programming and training workshops to help advance innovation and technology in southeastern Wisconsin.

The lab's industrial design pays tribute to the company's southeastern Wisconsin roots with Milwaukee landmark themed conference rooms and the use of reclaimed and repurposed local materials, including furniture and wood from family-owned farms in Appleton, Wis. Additionally, more than 15 local business were involved in the project, employing more than 80 people.

To learn more about Cream City Labs, visit innovation.nm.com.

About Northwestern Mutual
Northwestern Mutual has been helping families and businesses achieve financial security for more than 160 years. Through a distinctive, whole-picture planning approach, we empower our clients to make the most of every single day and plan for important moments in their future. We combine the expertise of our financial professionals with a personalized digital experience to help our clients navigate their financial lives every day. With $265.0 billion in assets, $28.1 billion in revenues, and $1.8 trillion worth of life insurance protection in force, Northwestern Mutual delivers financial security to 4.5 million people who rely on us for life, disability income and long-term care insurance, annuities, brokerage and advisory services, trust services, and discretionary portfolio management solutions. The company manages more than $125 billion of client assets through its wealth management and investment services. Northwestern Mutual ranks 104 on the 2018 FORTUNE 500 and is recognized by FORTUNE^® as one of the "World's Most Admired" life insurance companies in 2018.

Northwestern Mutual is the marketing name for The Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company (NM), Milwaukee, WI (life and disability insurance, annuities, and life insurance with long-term care benefits) and its subsidiaries. Northwestern Mutual and its subsidiaries offer a comprehensive approach to financial security solutions including: life insurance, long-term care insurance, disability income insurance, annuities, life insurance with long-term care benefits, investment products, and advisory products and services. Subsidiaries include Northwestern Mutual Investment Services, LLC (NMIS) (securities), broker-dealer, registered investment adviser, member FINRA and SIPC; the Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Company® (NMWMC) (fiduciary and fee-based financial planning services), federal savings bank; and Northwestern Long Term Care Insurance Company (NLTC) (long-term care insurance).

Not all Northwestern Mutual representatives are advisors. Only those representatives with the titles "Financial Advisor" or "Wealth Management Advisor" are credentialed as NMWMC representatives to provide advisory services.

SOURCE Northwestern Mutual