Knowledge Sharing

Phil Zwieg, vice president, information systems, Northwestern Mutual ($103 billion in assets), has spent a lot of time acquiring knowledge during a career in IT spanning nearly 25 years. Now he is determined to share it with others.

For the past 10 years, Zwieg has been an adjunct faculty member at Marquette University, teaching courses in the Milwaukee-based school's MBA and executive MBA programs. "I learn as much from the students as I hope they learn from me," he says. "I get a sense of how they view their own IS organizations, and I can use that as a mirror for evaluating what we do internally."

Zwieg became a founding member of the Wisconsin chapter of the Society of Information Management (SIM) in 1982. At that time, Zwieg recalls, "there wasn't really an organization to focus on the management practices within IT, so a group of us learned about SIM and formed a local chapter." Part of SIM's mission is to give back to the community, largely through scholarships and grants to local students.

Zwieg shares his IT expertise as an advisor to the Milwaukee Public Schools, and he has helped with IT advice and funding for the Big Brothers-Big Sisters organization. Zwieg also volunteers for Lad Lake Inc., a facility that provides living and learning environments for troubled youth.

Anthony O'Donnell has covered technology in the insurance industry since 2000, when he joined the editorial staff of Insurance & Technology. As an editor and reporter for I&T and the InformationWeek Financial Services of TechWeb he has written on all areas of information ... View Full Bio