MANSFIELD — Tyler Thomas always dreamed of operating a financial planning office in Mansfield.
The Northwestern Mutual adviser started his career as a college freshman and regularly worked out of the firm’s Canton office.
“I’m born and raised in Mansfield, this has always been home, so we’re very excited to bring this here,” Thomas said at the business’ Tuesday ribbon-cutting ceremony.
“We help families achieve financial security with risk management-based solutions, wealth management — just helping them get the most that they want out of life and their goals.”
Northwestern Mutual is a Wisconsin-based financial planning firm with 10 Ohio offices.
Thomas said his goals as a financial adviser are to protect what’s important to his clients and find the right mix of growth and risk management.
“I think really what makes us unique is that we put the two different worlds together,” he said. “Whatever you’re doing on the offensive side of the plan a lot of the time affects what you might do on the defensive side, and vice-versa.”
Thomas is a 2015 Madison Rams alumnus, an Ohio Air National Guard veteran and a 2020 Ashland University graduate.
He earned Northwestern Mutual’s “Rookie of the Year” award for full-time advisors in Northeast Ohio in 2022 and earned Northwestern Mutual’s “New Rep of the Year” award in 2023.
The Mansfield office has four financial advisers in addition to Thomas — Spencer Hershey, Jalen Reese, Kevin Fisher and Michael Cohen.
Cohen has worked with Northwestern Mutual for more than 20 years.
“This is an awesome opportunity for our community and I couldn’t ask for a better partnership with these gentlemen,” he said.
“It’s kind of surreal being in this office, I didn’t know if we would make a Mansfield office happen but we’re so excited.”
Thomas has Northwestern Mutual clients in 20+ states
Thomas was a freshman at Ashland University when Northwestern Mutual first hired him.
“I got so lucky,” he said. “It was my second week of school and I went to a ‘Meet an Accountant’ night at Ashland. I probably built 80 to 90 clients as a student that helped me launch after getting my degree, too.”
Thomas has clients around the nation, in about 20 different states.
“Before the pandemic, financial planning seemed to be much more a community-based, in-person thing, but now that people are more comfortable using Zoom or other virtual tools, we’re equipped to advise anyone in different time zones or states pretty easily,” he said.
Thomas said a high school classmate of his, Dream Huge Realtor John Pavlansky, helped him locate the space in the Park Professional Building.
“It’s a historic building that’s been around since like 1929,” the Madison graduate said. “If you ride in the elevator, there’s toggle switches and a closing gate — it’s an authentic building here in Mansfield. I love it.”
For potential new clients, Thomas said a Northwestern Mutual planner would start with an exploratory meeting about someone’s goals and what’s important to them in a financial and wealth management plan.
“Then, we’ll develop a personalized financial plan for them,” he said.
“That essentially takes everything that they’re currently doing right now and projects all that out. So, if you keep doing the things that you’re doing right now, how does all that shake up for the future?
“Our goal is to develop a plan for making your money work efficiently for their goals.”
Clients can contact the Mansfield office at 330-492-9700 or online. Thomas also has a Facebook page. The third-floor office at 70 Park Ave. West is open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays–Fridays.