Principal® Joins Cyber Readiness Institute Board of Advisors

WASHINGTON, DC, January 15, 2020 — The Cyber Readiness Institute (CRI) is pleased to welcome Principal Financial Group® to its Board of Advisors. Together, CRI and Principal will focus on making cyber readiness understandable and achievable for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) around the world, creating a safer cyber landscape for all.

“We welcome Principal to the Cyber Readiness Institute,” said Kiersten Todt, CRI managing director. “We look forward to collaborating with Principal to help them further protect customers and partners and bolster consumers’ trust. As a global financial services provider, Principal understands that protecting financial well-being also requires protecting data.”

Principal joins board members Mastercard, Microsoft, PSP Partners, General Motors, Exxon Mobil, Maersk and the Center for Global Enterprise. Collectively, these organizations will provide educational support to small and medium-sized businesses about cybersecurity risk reduction and ways to improve cyber readiness. As a member of the advisory board, Principal will help inform the ongoing development of CRI’s free tools and resources. In addition to the eight-member Board of Advisors, CRI’s Champion Network includes over 70 organizations representing more than 1 million SMBs.

“Our collaboration with the Cyber Readiness Institute is an extension of our long-standing commitment to SMBs and their employees,” said Kara Hoogensen, Vice President of Group Benefits at Principal. “In this evolving digital age, business owners are searching for education and actionable insights about how best to strengthen data security measures. Our relationship with CRI will help us help our customers understand and address their cybersecurity risk.”

Today’s digital economy allows businesses to be connected to hundreds, thousands, and tens of thousands of partners – presenting exponential opportunity along with considerable risk, especially from cyber threats. The 2019 Principal Financial Well-Being IndexSM: Business Owners highlights cybersecurity as a top concern for SMBs. Businesses ranked cybersecurity as the top area in which they need guidance from outside advisors. Eighty percent of business owners are planning to act to address cybersecurity risk in 2020.

About the Cyber Readiness Institute

The Cyber Readiness Institute is a non-profit initiative that convenes senior business leaders from across sectors and geographic regions to share resources and knowledge that inform the development of free cybersecurity tools for small and medium-sized businesses. The Institute seeks to advance the cyber readiness of small and medium-sized businesses to improve the security of global value chains. The free, self-guided Cyber Readiness Program for small and medium-sized businesses was launched in December 2018 and is available in Chinese, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, and Japanese. To find out more, visit www.becyberready.com.

About Principal

Principal helps people and companies around the world build, protect, and advance their financial well-being through retirement, insurance, and asset management solutions that fit their lives. Our employees are passionate about helping clients of all income and portfolio sizes achieve their goals – offering innovative ideas, investment expertise, and real-life solutions to make financial progress possible. To find out more, visit www.principal.com.