Our Team
Our goal is to guide you to get ready for life's milestones while checking off those bucket list items.
As a team, we collaborate and leverage each other's specialized skillsets to deliver a client experience that puts your goals, your plans, your questions, front, and center.
Get to know us and how we can help you. And, while you're here, see our bucket list goals that motivate us to #SpendLifeLiving.
Sally Elizabeth Higham
Client Service Focus – Investments
A member of the team since 2007, Sally draws from industry experience a strong belief in the power of holistic financial planning. In her role as a paraplanner, she assists with the creation of client retirement, educational and survivor income plans as well as annual reviews.
Sally enjoys interacting with our clients guiding 401k and IRA rollovers, processing securities orders and trades, and answering investment questions. She also leads our practice's marketing and digital media efforts.
Sally holds the FINRA Series 6 and is licensed in health, accident and life insurance. She earned a BS in Consumer and Textile Marketing from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
A busy mom of three children, she enjoys spending quality time with her husband, and their extended family and friends.
On Sally's Bucket List:
Taking my daughters to Paris and while we are at it might as well do the French Riviera and Alps
RV trip

Amy K Placek
Client Service Focus – Financial Planning
Analyzing clients’ financial planning goals and breaking them down into digestible concepts that can be executed with clarity and confidence, is what drives Amy in her role as a Planning Associate. A member of our team since 2018, Amy brings ten years of experience within Northwestern Mutual as a former associate director of compliance and investment operations associate. While working behind the scenes preparing planning proposals, she also serves our investment clients’ account maintenance and money movement requests.
She holds FINRA series 7, 9, 10, 66 securities licenses, is licensed in life and health insurance and holds an RICP® designation in retirement planning. Amy has a BS degree in Spanish Language and Literature from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana.
In her free time, you will find Amy biking around the city of Chicago, hanging out at her local rock-climbing gym, or escaping the city for new adventures in hiking and camping.
On Amy's Bucket List:
- SCUBA diving in the Great Barrier Reef
Matt Kaiser
Client Service Focus - Insurance and Billing
Matt enjoys the client service aspect of his role within our practice. Interacting with clients during the onboarding process, he finds a camaraderie develops as we navigate through the coordination of medical exams and completion of insurance and investment paperwork. Over the years, those relationships deepen with simple requests to change account information such as addresses and beneficiaries or answering questions about policy values.
With nine years of experience in financial services ranging from banking to investment management, Matt joined the team in 2018. He holds the FINRA Series 7 and is licensed in life, accident and health insurance.
Matt earned a BS in Finance from Augustana College, where he was a student-athlete and played as a tight end on the Vikings football team. A die-hard Cubs fan, his goal is to attend as many home games as possible.
On Matt's Bucket List:
Visiting every major league baseball park – currently, he has eight under his belt – just 22 more to go.

Brenda L Pellegrini
brenda.pellegrini@nm.com
312-505-4391
Client Service Focus – Scheduling Meetings
With more than three decades of experience building long-term relationships with Northwestern Mutual clients, Brenda draws from a deep well of client-focused service. The voice behind the scheduling appointment, she has been a valuable member of our team since 2020.
A lifelong Chicago resident, she is the mother of two and a proud grandmother of three. When she's not spending time with her grandkids, she's an avid reader and loves to cook.
On Brenda's Bucket List:
A second home on the beach
Meet my relatives in Italy and spend one month with them
See the Northern Lights
Swim with dolphins
Road trip on Route 66 to California
Learn to ride a motorcycle
With mindful, thoughtful planning, you can feel confident about your financial future.
Let's Put Our Team To Work for You Today