Fernando Diaz serves as the Chief Financial Product Officer for Illinois State Treasurer Michael Frerichs. Under this role, he leads the teams overseeing the following Treasury programs: Financial Education, IL ABLE (Achieving a Better Life Experience), Illinois Secure Choice Retirement Savings, and the IL 529 College Savings Plans: Bright Start and Bright Directions. He is also the Treasurer’s designee as Chair of the Secure Choice Board.
Fernando is an active member with the College Savings Plan Network (CSPN), most recently serving on the Strategic Planning and By-laws Review Committees; he also chaired the Diversity Working Group. He lends his strategic expertise in various 529 industry public forums on a variety of topics, including: behavioral finance, due diligence, operations, data analytics and marketing, and compliance.
Fernando is a member of the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB) Municipal Fund Securities Advisory Group. He is also a Public Sector Advisory Board member for the National Institute of Public Finance at the Graziadio Business School at Pepperdine University. He is an Edgars Fellow at the Institute of Public and Government Affairs at the University of Illinois; and an Aspen Ideas Festival Scholar.
Prior to joining the Office of the Illinois State Treasurer, Fernando spent over 10 years in higher education; specifically focusing on diversity & inclusion, enrollment management, student affairs, and strategic initiatives.
He has been named one of the “Emerging” Executive Leaders by Diversity MBA Magazine and received the Latino Leader Magazine “New Wave of Latino Leader” Award.
Born in Chicago, he grew up in the Little Village and East Side neighborhoods. He is a proud alumnus of the Chicago Public Schools system. He completed his bachelor’s in Political Science and master’s in Educational Leadership and Administration with a concentration in Higher Education Administration from Chicago State University. He also earned an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
Fernando currently lives in the Bronzeville neighborhood in Chicago with his wife and two teenage children. When he is not helping people work on their financial independence, he coaches and mentors kids in youth soccer programs.