Is it a mast and sail for the corporate ship of “The Quiet Company”?   Northwestern Mutual is making a bold statement with their new building in downtown Milwaukee and a huge part of the phenomenal success of “Mother Mutual” rests on the shoulders of a bona fide IT guru named Robert Hayden.  Bob was already a legend, working on the Link Integration team (responsible for the infrastructure that connected the home office with the dedicated general agencies and field sales force), when I first met him back in the early 90s.

I remember boldly bursting into the inscrutably intuitive genius’s cubie and, in typical Buckthorn Man fashion, intensely and rapidly rattling off the symptoms of a complex issue we were facing with DOS (Disk Operating System).  Bob looked at me and said “hmmmmm” while he scanned his brain for the answer, which came shortly.

Over a career spanning 40+ years at NM, Bob has taken many a late night crisis call and calmly and methodically delivered the solution.  Bob is the backbone of the network at NM.

Thanks for supporting The Buckthorn Man Bob — I love you man.