Mike Mouser: Cape Girardeau Native takes helm of Northwestern Mutual office in Columbia

Like many kids, Mike Mouser grew up with the dream of playing college baseball.

“Growing up, baseball was my life, and I got the chance to learn about more than just baseball from my coaches,” he remarked. “I learned that attitude and effort would play the biggest role in my success.”

The life-lessons Mouser learned might not have panned out into a college baseball career, but later it would benefit him in another area of his life – his profession.

Mouser, 27, was named the District Director of Northwestern Mutual’s Columbia office this past summer. He brings unparalleled passion for the job, but he wasn’t always so certain.

He started off his college days at the University of Missouri with an ambition to have a career in sports marketing, but soon realized the career he had in mind wasn’t the reality, “I quickly learned that there was a big ladder-like structure, and the process of moving up the ladder was slow no matter what your skillset,” he said. “I wanted more opportunity and I wanted to make a big impact in my community.”

The path:

It wasn’t until his junior year that he stumbled upon an internship with Northwestern Mutual. At first, he was hesitant about a career in financial services as his father was a wealth management advisor and had his own company. “I had a few negative perceptions about what the position was without having first-hand experience,” Mouser recalls.

Today, he’s pleased that his perceptions were wrong.

Since 2008, Mouser has moved through various leadership roles before assuming his present position where he is not only in charge of the overall development of his office, but also runs the college program. Through the college program, the office typically takes 20-30 college interns at a time.

In addition, he still serves about 450 households across the country, and about 300 of those are in the Columbia area.

His story is even more remarkable given that one of his oldest mentors joined his team - his father, Brad. After seeing the success of his son, Brad was inspired to dissolve his own business. “Working and learning with my son has been so rewarding,” Mouser’s father remarks. “We make a great team.”

Moving forward:

When thinking about the future of his office, Mouser has an approach that focuses on the root of why his business exists in the first place - impacting lives.

“My philosophy is that when the members of our community are more financially secure, we have the opportunity to make things in our city look a lot different and better than they do right now,” Mouser stated. “The people and community are my main drivers.”

While his vision stays in front of him, he knows focusing on recruiting individuals that can follow his example will be the most beneficial for the team in the long-run. “We have some big goals, but I don’t mind a challenge,” Mouser said. Some of the obstacles he now faces in his business have reminded him of overcoming odds growing up.

“I was adopted and there wasn’t exactly a lot of diversity around me where I was raised,” Mouser recalled. “I knew most business leaders were not from minority populations.”

Statistically, he’s right. Recent research suggests that only about 12.9% of board members at Fortune 100 companies (like Northwestern Mutual) are made up of individuals from minorities (Deloitte, 2016).

On top of this, he’s young for his position. The average age of an advisor is about 50.

However, these numbers don’t faze him. “I have earned my opportunity thus far, and I will keep going,” he states strongly. “I just don’t give up.”