Young Alumni Award: Cornell Verdeja-Woodson ’05, for his outstanding career in diversity, equity, and inclusion work

Cornell Verdeja-Woodson, Class of 2005, of San Leandro, CA, was chosen for this year’s Young Alumni Award in recognition of his achievements in the field of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

At the time of his nomination, Cornell was Global Head of DEI at Looker, a computer science software company in Santa Clara, CA, as well as sole proprietor of his consulting firm, Brave Trainings. Cornell is now a full-time Diversity Consulting Partner with business and human relations leaders within the Google Cloud (Looker was acquired by Google in March). He has also begun a doctoral program at the University of Southern California Rossier Graduate School of Education in Organizational Change and Leadership.

Cornell is an alumnus of Ithaca College, where he majored in Communication Management and Design, and also was student body president. After college, he served in Teach for America in Atlanta. Interested in a path in educational leadership, he then earned a master’s degree in Higher Education and Student Affairs Management at the University of Vermont. Positions followed at NYU and Cornell, eventually becoming the Cornell University Lead Diversity and Inclusion Officer.

Alongside these endeavors, Cornell developed his consulting firm, Brave Trainings, which works with organizations committed to authentic social justice dialogue.

Cornell came to MFS as a Camden Scholar in ninth grade. He has said, “I believe my time at MFS kickstarted my love for education and working for the greater good.”

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