Mar. 26--Back in 1982, Shorewood native John E. Schlifske was an intern in Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co.'s investment department and starting to dream about what it would be like to be an investment professional in big cities like New York and Chicago.

He found out shortly after graduating from business school, when he landed an investment job with a large New York-based life insurer that also had offices in Chicago. But Milwaukee and Northwestern Mutual were never far from his mind.

"I realized that Chicago and New York were cool places, but I really liked Milwaukee the best," Schlifske said.

His affinity for the Milwaukee area and Northwestern Mutual couldn't have turned out better. He returned to Northwestern in 1987 as an investment specialist and began advancing toward top management.

On Wednesday, Schlifske was named president of Northwestern Mutual, setting the stage for him to succeed Edward J. Zore as chief executive in 2010.

Zore will become chairman of Northwestern Mutual and remain CEO while passing the president's position to Schlifske. Both appointments are effective March 31.

Under company rules, the chief executive must retire at age 65. Zore turns 65 next year. Zore, a key business leader on Milwaukee's civic scene, has been president of Northwestern Mutual since 2000 and CEO since 2001. Succession planning is an ongoing process at Northwestern Mutual.

"From the time I became CEO, looking at my timeline I thought it was really important to make sure that we had the bench strength and we had people in the organization who were either growing into the job or could take over the job," Zore said.

He said that while there were other strong candidates from within the company, "John has the skill set that the board felt was important for this point in time."

Schlifske, 49, most recently has served as president and CEO of Russell Investment Co., a Tacoma, Wash.-based subsidiary of Northwestern Mutual. He took that job in June of 2008.


Along with his experience as a CEO at Russell, he has been involved in civic leadership in Milwaukee typically a big role for a Northwestern Mutual chief executive. His investment background also was important, Zore said.

Schlifske is a member of the Milwaukee Public Museum Board, and from 2005 to 2007 as chairman helped the museum recover from deep financial problems.

"He's got a demonstrated ability to step in and handle what I would view as a significant community crisis, and I think he gets high marks for the role he played and how he executed it," said Tim Sheehy, president of the Metropolitan Milwaukee Chamber of Commerce. "One thing Northwestern Mutual does well is produce really good leaders, and I think he continues to fit that bill."

Schlifske said being the top executive at Russell since last summer gave him experience running a company -- especially under difficult market conditions -- and working with a board of directors.

Schlifske is a 1977 graduate of Shorewood High School. He received a degree in economics in 1981 from Carleton College in Northfield, Minn., and a master's degree in finance and accounting in 1983 from Northwestern University's Kellogg Graduate School of Management.

Northwestern Mutual announced several other personnel moves Wednesday.

Gary A. "Skip" Poliner , 56, executive vice president-investment products and services, joins the board of trustees. On June 30, he will become executive vice president and chief risk officer.

--Jean M. Maier, 54, senior vice president of enterprise operations, will add responsibility for the company's information systems department.

--Gregory C. Oberland, 51, executive vice president for insurance and technology, will take on responsibility for investment products and services.

--Marcia Rimai, 53, executive vice president and chief administrative officer, will also become the company's chief compliance officer.