Since arriving at Marquette from Janesville, Wisconsin, in 1986, Todd Jones has felt a close kinship with Milwaukee.
“I wanted to find a place that I would feel comfortable with,” says Jones. “I just knew when I took the tour at Marquette that this is the place I wanted to be. It was the best decision I ever made because this university and this city helped me be a better person, a better leader and a better thinker.”
Nearly four decades later, Jones is the executive vice president and chief financial officer of Northwestern Mutual, which ranks 109 on the Fortune 500 list and is a financial services company headquartered in Milwaukee. Jones’ role entails leading the finance and risk functions for an organization with more than $350 billion in total assets and over 5 million clients.
The values that Jones derived from his Marquette education help him manage it all.
“That servant leader attitude is so important for succeeding in a role like this and I think you get that from a well-rounded, liberal arts education,” Jones says.
How did a liberal arts curriculum influence your leadership style? Do you think you realized the value of it right away, or did it take some time?
I didn’t know the importance of taking theology or philosophy at the time, no. It took me a while to understand. With the benefit of some distance, I can see that the liberal arts curriculum helped me be a thinker. It made me reflect on how I wanted to be viewed and the kind of company I wanted to work for.
You started your career at PricewaterhouseCoopers, one of the Big Four accounting firms, and your degree is in accounting. What led you to make a change to Northwestern Mutual?
When you’re in public accounting, things are moving so fast and it’s all about you and your career and someone else’s company. Over time, I found myself drawn to companies with a mission, something that would make me excited to get up in the morning instead of being just a nine-to-five. And Northwestern Mutual provided that, as well as being one of the best financial services firms in the world.
What was it about Northwestern Mutual’s mission that spoke to you?
Other companies have shareholders. We have policy owners. And we have one stakeholder that we’re trying to make happy: the policy owner. Some people may think of us as a life insurance company, but we’re really focused on selling outcomes, not products. We’re giving people a piece of paper with a promise on it and asking them to trust us. Seeing how Northwestern Mutual operated from a place of trust and respect for the customer is something I really wanted to be a part of.
Northwestern Mutual hires a lot of college graduates from Marquette. What do you look for in young people these days as far as evaluating whether they’re a fit at Northwestern Mutual?
I’m really looking for the ability to adapt and be a leader. Being able to communicate well with your co-workers is also important; you can’t just sit behind a desk.
The technical chops are something that I assume everyone will have; you can find people at lots of universities who are talented in real estate or finance. If you have a degree, I’d trust that you know what you’re doing. But those soft skills are really what’s going to distinguish you more than anything.
Do you have a particular Marquette professor who stands out as particularly influential in your life?
The first guy who comes to my head is Dr. [Mike] Akers, who is now a professor emeritus of accounting. His name was Mike, but everyone called him “Doc.” He got me to see things with a much broader perspective. I thought that accounting education was just going to be debits and credits and he showed me I was very wrong in that regard. Doc was the first one who made me really think about what my values were as a businessperson.
What do you enjoy doing when you’re not on the clock? What is life like for you away from work?
I enjoy spending time with my family. My wife, Kim (who is also a Marquette accounting graduate) and I met after a Marquette basketball game, and we always enjoy doing things together. We have two daughters: Reagan, who is an accounting student at UW-Madison, and Avery, who is in high school at Hartland Arrowhead.
We are huge Marquette basketball fans; our family are season ticketholders, and both of our daughters have come with us to games for years. We like spending time up in the Northwoods too. Personally, I love golfing and fishing.
One of Milwaukee’s big challenges is going to be retaining its young talent. As someone who spent his entire career in Milwaukee, what would be your pitch to a talented college grad to stay here?
Housing is affordable compared to other markets, activities are plentiful and the opportunities for growth are significant. I grew up in a small town and part of the reason I stayed here is because I didn’t want to get eaten up in a big city like New York. But we’re also world class at what we do here; the investment bankers in New York would tell you that. You don’t have to go far to grow!
