American Family Insurance made headlines this week when it announced plans to purchase the naming rights to Miller Park, which it will assume in 2021. But along with backing Milwaukee's beloved baseball team, it's also investing in the city's tech community.
American Family Insurance announced that it's planning to open a Milwaukee office. The "multi-purpose" space in downtown Milwaukee will hold high-tech roles around data analytics, engineering and business innovation.
The Madison-based company has yet to select a location for the Milwaukee office, but expects the space to open within the next 2-3 years.
“Milwaukee is the largest city in our home state of Wisconsin. We’re impressed by the public and private sector passion for revitalization, and we want to be part of that. We plan to join other local companies and community leaders in addressing challenges that could impede even more progress,” American Family Insurance CEO Jack Salzwedel said in a statement.
The increased investment in Milwaukee comes as American Family Insurance has been an active booster of the state's technology ecosystem. Last year it opened a $55 million entrepreneurship center dubbed Spark, an eight-story office building that houses tech hub StartingBlock and startup accelerator gener8tor.
The company has also been an active startup investor through its venture arm American Family Ventures, backing Wisconsin companies such as ABODO and Quietyme. American Family also invested in Ring, the smart doorbell system that sold to Amazon for more than $1 billion, and in 2017 it acquired Networked Insights, a Chicago tech company it previously invested in.
Salzwedel noted that the Milwaukee office will help it connect with Milwaukee-area colleges, along with local Fortune 500s and other large companies in the area, according to the Milwaukee Business Journal.
"As we’re looking to hire over the next five years, 10 years, we think that this will be a great hub for us for hiring talent,” Salzwedel said.
