Diego is executive vice president and chief marketing officer for Verizon. Over the last five years, he and his team have led the widely recognized transformation of the Verizon brand from a phone company to a technology and experience brand.
In his role, Diego oversees all aspects of Verizon’s marketing, experience design and brand communications across all business units. He is responsible for linking the company’s innovations, products and services to build Verizon’s brands, create awareness, and drive demand and loyalty across all channels. One of Diego’s most notable innovations was the creation of a truly holistic marketing capability. He brought together traditional marketing functions such as creative, media, partnerships and experiential marketing with customer experience, retail and product design, customer science and insights, corporate communications and social responsibility and a purposefully built in-house creative agency all under one roof to drive economic efficiency and unprecedented levels of creativity.
His work has led to the creation of industry firsts, including Verizon Up, the first of its kind, digitally driven rewards program which redefined the category and now has more than 10 million members. The award-winning My Verizon App and next gen store design have radically transformed the way customers interact with Verizon and evolved brand perception. He has driven Verizon to focus on its network quality and broader purpose both internally and externally, with marketing programs such as “The Team That Wouldn’t Be Here,” which celebrated the work of first responders and the importance of the Verizon network (earning the #1 share of voice surrounding the 2019 Super Bowl) and the launch of Verizon 2.0, which underpinned the evolution of the internal culture.
At the helm of one of the country’s largest advertisers, Diego has taken bold action to impact diversity and inclusion within the marketing industry at large and has become a known activist for change. He founded adfellows, a breakthrough marketing training program offering diverse, entry-level talent, an integrated experience within Verizon and its agency partners with the goal of placing 90% of the fellows in full time positions. The program has garnered cross industry recognition and now includes American Express, Walmart and AB InBev amongst its partners.
Previously, he served as the Chief Marketing Officer of J. Crew where he drove brand growth to historical heights. Diego also spent 15 years at American Express, where he led several functions including global advertising and brand management, leading the creation of a number of iconic brand advertising and marketing campaigns including the award winning “My Life. My Card,” as well as playing a key leadership role on major product innovations including Blue and the Centurion Card. Diego also worked at Conde Nast where he led marketing at Vogue and held several other titles.
Selected by Business Insider for their “Most Innovative CMO” List in both 2018 and 2019, Diego was also named one of the “World’s Most Influential CMOs” by Forbes in 2019. He is a member of the executive committee of both the ANA and the Ad Council and a trustee of Big Brothers Big Sisters of New York City. A native of Argentina, Diego currently resides in New York City with his wife and two children.