Members Only: Lee Hurley, Chief Marketing Officer, Northwestern Mutual

Lee Hurley serves as chief marketing officer at Northwestern Mutual, a leading financial services firm specializing in comprehensive financial planning though the integration of both insurance and investments to help clients become more financially secure. In her role, Lee sets the vision of an enterprise-wide marketing strategy and is at the center of the brand’s recent transformation, driving cultural relevance and business growth for the company.  Lee leads a diverse team across two campuses working collaboratively to differientiate the brand and its products in the marketplace, and deepening engagement with clients, consumers and the company’s financial advisors. Prior to her appointment as CMO, Lee served as vice president of brand and activation for Northwestern Mutual since joining the company in 2017. Lee has been instrumental in leading the Northwestern Mutual brand and consumer marketing transformation – challenging the financial services category and repositioning the brand to make it relevant and accessible to a broader audience. She led the strategy and execution of the highly successful Spend Your Life Living campaign that reframed people’s idea of financial planning and empowering individuals to make the most of every single day. Under her leadership, Northwestern Mutual built on that success to launch the second chapter of Spend Your Life Living – The American Dream campaign which showcases powerful, diverse and emotive stories that reflect the realities and dreams of Americans today. Lee also spearheaded the build out of marketing insights and analytics and the redesign of the company’s website, re-invented its media strategy, and launched an end-to-end digital lead generation program which continues to drive growth for the company. Her relentless drive, bold vision, and deep understanding of Northwestern Mutual’s clients have proven to be highly successful. She is a mission driven marketer who has devoted her career to the health and wealth categories building growth strategies from the ground up, and deepening consumer connections through powerful storytelling and purpose driven campaigns. Prior to Northwestern Mutual, Lee spent over a decade at Weight Watchers where she grew their digital subscription business by more than 1,500%, led expansion into the men’s market, and built and scaled a best-in-class social media program. Her work has been featured in Ad Age, Forbes, Huffington Post, Digiday, and Media Bistro. Committed to driving meaningful change and supporting fellow women leaders, Lee is a member of Chief, Wall Street Journal CMO Network, and a board member of the Ad Council. Lee attended Wagner College where she received a B.A. in psychology. Lee lives in New Jersey with her husband, Sean, and two daughters.