Naples Businessperson Honored For Community Service Work With Hodges University

Milwaukee, WI (PRWEB) July 22, 2007 -- The Northwestern Mutual Foundation announced today that Jerry Nichols from Naples, FL, has been recognized as an "Outstanding Volunteer" in Northwestern Mutual's national Community Service Award (CSA) program. Nichols received the honor for his outstanding service and involvement with Hodges University.

Northwestern Mutual, which marks its 150th anniversary this year, named a total of 25 winners across the United States in its annual competition.

"Our company has made it a priority to give back to the communities where our financial representatives serve," said Ed Zore, President & CEO of Northwestern Mutual. "Our Community Service Award program is designed to salute our representatives for their dedicated community service and to lend financial support to their respective organizations."

Zore noted that since Northwestern Mutual started the award program in 1995, the company has donated more than $2.2 million on behalf of its representatives to over 200 non-profit organizations nationwide. "For 150 years we have encouraged our representatives to be active in their communities, and our company is honored to contribute to local groups that have a positive impact on people's lives," he added.

Nichols will be presented with the Community Service Award during Northwestern Mutual's Annual Meeting of Network Representatives on Tuesday, July 24, 2007 at the company's headquarters in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. A $10,000 grant will be presented to Hodges University from the Northwestern Mutual Foundation later this summer.

"The mission of Hodges University is to help mainly adult learners to complete their education and obtain their career objectives," said Nichols. "We currently have over 1,800 students from diverse backgrounds, and have not only seen tremendous growth, but many of the graduates stay in the area, which benefits our community," he added. The grant money from the Foundation will go to Hodges University programs.

Now in its thirteenth year, the CSA program is open to more than 9,000 Network representatives of the Northwestern Mutual Financial Network to recognize exemplary volunteer involvement and dedication to charitable organizations and philanthropic projects.

The program, which is funded by the Northwestern Mutual Foundation, will donate a total of $265,000 this year to the representatives' community service organizations. The Foundation has donated more than $70 million to national and Milwaukee-area nonprofit organizations in the past five years. For decades, the Company has been committed to improving the quality of life by concentrating its charitable contributions in the areas of education, health and human services, and the arts and culture.

The Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company, Milwaukee, WI, (Northwestern Mutual) has been serving the financial needs of its policy owners and clients for 150 years. The company, with over $1 trillion of life insurance protection in force, maintains the highest available ratings for insurance financial strength from all four major rating agencies: Standard & Poor's, Fitch Ratings, A. M. Best and Moody's.

For 24 years, a FORTUNE magazine survey has named Northwestern Mutual "America's Most Admired" company in the life/health insurance industry. Further information on Northwestern Mutual, its subsidiaries and affiliates can be found at: www.nmfn.com.

For more information, contact:

Felicia Bogdanski - Northwestern Mutual

(414) 665-1959

feliciabogdanski @ northwesternmutual.com

-- OR --

Julie Stolper Dieckelman

(262) 650-9852/262/853-1602 (cell)

jstolper @ wi.rr.com

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