# Beth Wood

> Beth Wood is executive vice president and chief marketing officer at Principal Financial Group, where she leads the Global Brand and Experience team and stewards a brand serving millions across retirement, insurance, and asset management. A Babson-trained marketer with more than 30 years of experience, she has held senior roles at Guardian Life, MassMutual, Johnson & Johnson, and Frito-Lay, and once ran her late mother's coffee business - an accidental turn into entrepreneurship she credits for her empathy toward small business owners. Her pitch for financial services is deceptively simple: pair expertise with empathy and make an industry famous for fine print feel like it is on your side.

- **Role:** Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at Principal Financial Group
- **Organizations:** Principal Financial Group, Principal Foundation, Guardian Life Insurance, MassMutual, Johnson & Johnson, Frito-Lay, Nancy's Coffee
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** BS, Marketing/Communications, Babson College
- **Known for:** Leads the Global Brand and Experience team as EVP and CMO of Principal Financial Group, More than 30 years of experience as a brand and marketing leader, Chair of the Principal Foundation

## Career timeline

- **early career** — Held marketing roles at Frito-Lay and Johnson & Johnson
- **career** — Ran her late mother's coffee business (Nancy's Coffee), becoming an 'accidental entrepreneur'
- **career** — Marketing leadership roles at MassMutual
- **2010** — Joined Guardian Life Insurance as second vice president, life and agency marketing
- **2016** — Became vice president and chief marketing officer of individual businesses at Guardian Life
- **2019** — Joined Principal Financial Group as chief marketing officer (July 2019)
- **present** — Executive Vice President and CMO; Chair of the Principal Foundation and the company's Sustainability Task Force

## Achievements

- Leads the Global Brand and Experience team as EVP and CMO of Principal Financial Group
- More than 30 years of experience as a brand and marketing leader
- Chair of the Principal Foundation
- Chair of Principal's Sustainability Task Force
- Repositioned Principal's brand around empathy and expertise to humanize financial services
- Held CMO-level marketing roles at Guardian Life across the individual businesses

## Latest updates

- **2025-01** — Featured as EVP and Global CMO of Principal Financial Group discussing empathy, innovation, and AI in podcast and press interviews on future-proofing finance.

## Links

- Website: https://principal.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bethwoodleidt/
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwmh_dfgsEw

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/beth-wood
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-08-14