Timothy J. Gerend is Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer of Northwestern Mutual, leading the company’s mission to secure and strengthen the financial futures of Americans through trusted advisors, personalized planning, and integrated risk protection and wealth management solutions. He leads 8,500 employees and a nationwide network of 22,000 financial advisors and team members who together serve more than 5.2 million clients. Northwestern Mutual ranks #109 on the FORTUNE 500—with total 2025 revenue exceeding $41 billion, client and company investments surpassing $700 billion, and in-force insurance protection eclipsing $2.5 trillion. For 35 consecutive years, the company has earned the best-available financial strength ratings from all four of the nation’s top ratings agencies.  

A seasoned C-suite leader with deep experience spanning strategy, business and technology transformation, distribution, marketing, communications,  and risk/compliance, Gerend has built a career by developing high-performing leadership teams, driving change, and delivering results. He is recognized for building and driving alignment across stakeholders, including boards, management, and the company’s exclusive field force of financial advisors. He has a track record of developing highly engaged teams, strengthening operating discipline, and positioning organizations for sustained growth amid evolving customer expectations and technology disruption.

Under his leadership, Northwestern Mutual continues to demonstrate unsurpassed financial strength and a steadfast focus on the long-term financial well-being of the policyowners, clients, and communities it proudly serves. He is guiding Northwestern Mutual into its next phase of growth—expanding and evolving its industry-leading network of trusted financial advisors, advancing risk protection and wealth management solutions that work together to deliver superior outcomes, improving how the business operates by uniting business and technology to transform the company’s ways of working, empowering teams with human-centered AI tools, and energizing and enabling the very best in the company’s employees, advisors, and team members.

Gerend is passionate about helping children reach their potential and strengthening the next generation of advisors in the industry. For nearly two decades, he has worked to expand access to quality education in the city of Milwaukee. He serves on the board of the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce (MMAC) and chairs the Northwestern Mutual Foundation board. Additionally, he has held leadership roles with the CFP Board’s Center for Financial Planning Advisory Council, the American College of Financial Services, and the American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI), where he is a member of both the executive committee and board. He holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Butler University and a law degree from the University of Notre Dame