The Principal Financial Group Announces Executive Promotions

    Business Editors

    DES MOINES, Iowa--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 2, 2005--The Principal Financial Group(R) today announced three promotions effective March 1, 2005 -- Carey Jury, Tim Minard and Deanna Strable-Soethout were named senior vice presidents.
    "The Principal is extremely fortunate to have these three outstanding individuals step up to senior leadership roles. They each have the wealth of experience, strong leadership skills and great technical depth to drive our service to small and medium business customers to higher levels," said J. Barry Griswell, chairman, president and chief executive officer, the Principal Financial Group.
    Carey Jury was named senior vice president -- Health, replacing recently retired Gary Cain. He is responsible for group medical insurance, the administrative services only and wellness businesses. Jury joined the company in 1988 as director -- Claims. He was named chief operating officer in 1992, director - Group Operations in 1994 and vice president in 1996. In 1999 he accepted a position as senior global expansion manager and managing director to lead the company's acquisition strategy into Australia and became executive vice president of The Principal's Australian subsidiary, returning to the U.S. in 2000. A native of San Diego, Calif., Jury received his bachelor's degree from Drake University.
    Tim Minard was named senior vice president - Retirement Distribution, responsible for all aspects of retirement distribution and sales within the U.S. Minard joined the company in 1986 as a sales representative in Detroit, Mich. He was promoted to regional vice president in 1994 and was named vice president - National Sales Director of Retirement Services in 1999. A native of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Minard earned his bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of Iowa.
    Deanna Strable-Soethout was named senior vice president - Specialty Benefits, responsible for the group life, disability, dental and vision and individual disability lines of business. Strable joined the company in 1990 as an actuarial assistant. She was promoted to senior actuarial associate in 1994, was named an officer in 1995, and was promoted to vice president - Disability in 2002. A native of Prole, Iowa, Strable received her bachelor degree from Northwestern University. She is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries.

    Photos available upon request.

    About the Principal Financial Group

    The Principal Financial Group(R) (The Principal (R))(1) is a leader in offering businesses, individuals and institutional clients a wide range of financial products and services, including retirement and investment services, life and health insurance and banking through its diverse family of financial services companies. A member of the Fortune 500, the Principal Financial Group has $168.7 billion in assets under management(2) and serves some 14.9 million customers worldwide from offices in Asia, Australia, Europe, Latin America and the United States. Principal Financial Group, Inc. is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol PFG. For more information, visit www.principal.com.

    (1) "The Principal Financial Group" and "The Principal" are registered service marks of Principal Financial Services, Inc., a member of the Principal Financial Group.

    (2) As of December 31, 2004

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CONTACT: Principal Financial Group, Des Moines Rhonda Clark-Leyda, 515-247-6634 clark-leyda.rhonda@principal.com or Susan Houser, 515-248-2268 houser.susan@principal.com

KEYWORD: IOWA INDUSTRY KEYWORD: INSURANCE HUMAN RESOURCES BANKING MANAGEMENT CHANGES SOURCE: Principal Financial Group

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