Verdugo ’12 receives Young Alumni Achievement Award

Cornell College awarded Diego Verdugo ’12—an immigrant and a financial planner working to close wealth gaps in underrepresented and low-income communities—with the 2024 Young Alumni Achievement Award during Homecoming and Reunion Weekend.

When Verdugo was 10 and didn’t speak a word of English, his family moved from a border town in Mexico to Douglas, Arizona. He was the first in his extended family to go to and graduate from college, and he learned a valuable lesson at Cornell: education opens doors.

Verdugo was a leader on the Hilltop. He was President of Zeta Tau Psi and the Organization for Latino Awareness and served on the executive board of the Cornell Diversity Committee. He had three work-study jobs, working in the Office of Intercultural Life, the Admissions Office as a student tele-counseling representative and campus tour guide, and teaching a Spanish Conversation class. 

When he joined Principal Financial Group in 2012 as part of its leadership development program, he was able to add value from day one, supporting complex and impactful global business efforts. He has quickly risen through the ranks at Principal—serving since 2022 as one of the youngest managing directors in the company’s 145-year history. He is actively involved in several community organizations, including Junior Achievement of Arizona, the Association of Latino Professionals for America, Los Caballeros, and the Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. He’s an advocate for financial literacy, focusing on closing the financial knowledge and wealth gaps in underrepresented and low-income communities.

Listen to his Oct. 5, 2024, speech at Homecoming Convocation at Mount Vernon United Methodist Church: