Kingdom of Spain

A native of Santander, Spain Dr. Lago arrived to the US in 1987 to embark on an educational journey as a first generation college student. Now as the Chief International Officer for Utah Valley University, Dr. Lago organizes and manages UVU's global and intercultural academic initiatives; working mainly with external communities including the Governor's Office of Economic Development of the State of Utah, The United Nations, and many other organizations, chambers, and global companies.

Prior to his current post, Dr. Lago dedicated his professional career as a professor of language pedagogy and has presented his research in Europe, the Americas and Asia. Since 1999, as a service to his country and to the local community, Dr. Lago fulfills his appointment as the Honorary Consul of Spain and currently serves as President of the Utah Consular Corps. In addition, he has served as President of the World Trade Association of Utah, Chairman of Utah Council for Citizen Diplomacy, the University of Utah MIAGE Program.

In his work at UVU, Dr. Lago enjoys working with his colleagues by developing global academic partnerships and hosting diplomats. Some of his pastimes include the arts, classical music, current events, history and spending time with his family. On 2016, Dr. Lago was awarded the title of Knight Commander of the Royal Order of Civil Merit by King Phillip VI of Spain and in 2020 received the UVU Presidential Award, Utah's Diplomat Award and the World Trade Association Person of the Year Award.