Marie Ziegler has extensive board leadership experience. She is chair of QCR Holdings, a $8.5 billion bank holding company. Ms. Ziegler is a community leader, serving as chair of the River Bend Food Bank, the immediate past chair of UnityPoint Health - Quad Cities, and sits on other nonprofit boards. She is the retired Deputy Financial Officer of Deere & Company, where she had responsibility for global treasury operations, risk management, pensions, investments, and investor relations. There she also served on the Chairman’s Global Leadership Council. Her expertise includes strategy, finance, and communications. Ms. Ziegler graduated with a degree in Accounting from St. Ambrose University, earned a Master of Business Administration from the University of Iowa, and is a Board Leadership Fellow with the National Association of Corporate Directors. Elected to the Royal Neighbors board in 2018, she is chair of the board and executive committee and is a member of the governance and investment committees.
J Lynn Anderson is a seasoned financial services leader with 40 collective years of experience in life insurance, property & casualty insurance, and banking. Prior to committing to board work full time, Ms. Anderson was an executive with Nationwide (a Fortune 100 company). She served as President and CEO of Nationwide Bank (a $6.5B digital bank) and before as SVP of Property & Casualty Product and Pricing over a $13B direct written premium portfolio. Ms. Anderson previously served on the board of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Cincinnati, a $124B asset, government-sponsored entity, as board chair. She is a board member for the Women Presidents Organization (WPO), a 2000+ member, peer advisory model supporting women entrepreneurs where she chairs the Governance Committee. She also serves on VAST Bank’s board (Tulsa, OK community bank) as chair of the Audit and Risk Committee. A graduate of The Ohio State University with a degree in accounting, Ms. Anderson holds the designations of Certified Public Accountant, Certified Internal Auditor, Chartered Life Underwriter, Chartered Financial Consultant, Chartered Property & Casualty Underwriter, and Associate in Reinsurance. Appointed to the Royal Neighbors board in 2022, and elected to the board in 2023, she is a member of the audit, compensation, and investment committees.
Alejandra Evans’ dynamic leadership in the insurance industry spans three decades across multiple disciplines, including consulting, business strategy, financial performance, risk management, sales, and marketing. She retired from USI Insurance Services, a leading brokerage firm, in March of 2021 as Senior Vice President of Risk Management. Ms. Evans currently serves on the board of directors of The Davey Tree Expert Co., a $1.8 billion employee-owned company, and is a member of its governance and audit committees. She received her B.A. in Business Management from Loyola University of Chicago. Elected to the Royal Neighbors board in 2021, she is chair of the governance committee and a member of the compensation and audit committees.
Tracey Gray-Walker is an accomplished CEO and NACD-certified board member of United Veterinary Care and Royal Neighbors of America. She is a financial and marketing expert within both regulated and unregulated industries. Ms. Gray-Walker has many years of P&L management, operations, and financial experience with AXA a Global Fortune 500 company with international exposure. She has proven experience in the areas of stakeholder relationship management, collaborative negotiations, inclusive leadership, and pragmatic thinking.
Ms. Gray-Walker is the CEO of the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) Trust. Her business strategies include unifying the positioning of the Trust. She has focused on enhancing member experience, improving productivity and efficiencies while creating additional value for members. Within her first year, she completed the merging of two individual insurance Trusts, while simultaneously launching an Association Health Plan for a 106,000-member organization.
Prior to joining the AVMA Trust in 2019, Ms. Gray-Walker spent over twenty-five years in the financial services industry. Most recently, she led the successful relaunch of a business that generated double-digit growth and enhanced client engagement and satisfaction levels.
Ms. Gray-Walker’s broad-based experience includes an extensive list of leadership roles. She has a proven ability to drive business results, assess performance, coach, and motivate others. Ms. Gray-Walker serves on the Investment Committee for the Association Health Insurance Company (AIC). She is a former board member of The Executive Leadership Council and served on AXA’s 401(k) Board.
During Ms. Gray-Walker’s career in Financial Services, she received various awards and recognition, including but not limited to one of The Network Journal’s “Twenty-Five Influential Black Women in Business,” and she was featured in Profiles in Diversity Journal as one of its “Women Worth Watching.” Ms. Gray-Walker was also included among Uptown Professional’s prestigious list of “Top Executives in America” and a Women of Distinction by the Girl Scouts of Greater New York.
Before joining AXA Equitable, Ms. Gray-Walker spent four years with Deloitte & Touche (formerly Touche Ross & Co.) as a senior auditor. Elected to the Royal Neighbors board in 2021, she is chair of the audit committee and a member of the investment, and governance committees.
Lara Metcalf has deep experience using innovative investment capital approaches in the public and private sectors to drive better outcomes for low-income and vulnerable populations. She believes market-driven solutions must play a role in solving our nation's most pressing problems, so after 18 years in the fixed-income markets at Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and Credit Suisse, she dedicated the second half of her career to the mission economy. Ms. Metcalf is currently Chief Portfolio Officer of the Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation, a global venture philanthropy firm supporting early-stage, high-impact startups. She oversees the global team finding, funding, and supporting 18-20 new social enterprise investments in the US, Africa, and Europe. As part of her role, Ms. Metcalf serves on the board of Reboot RX, a nonprofit dedicated to repurposing generic drugs for cancer care; BosWell, which helps connect community organization clients to free healthcare; and Common Goal, a non-profit using soccer, the most popular sport globally, as a vehicle for positive change.
In the impact investing space, Ms. Metcalf supports early-stage impact venture funds as a Venture Partner and on the Investment Committee of TSEF: The Social Entrepreneurs’ Fund, MIT Solve Innovation Futures Fund, and an advisor at Zeal Capital Partners. She previously played a leadership role in building the Pay for Success field during her five years as the Managing Director of Social Finance, an innovative 501c3 social enterprise. Ms. Metcalf led the creation of $80M+ in project finance impact investments around issues ranging from refugee and immigrant employment to child welfare, to maternal and child health, to recidivism, while also acting as CFO/COO. Before Social Finance, she was the Chief Financial Officer/Chief Administrative Officer and Senior Associate Dean for Operations at the Harvard Kennedy School where she oversaw the $150M operating budget, finance, human resources, and facilities teams. Ms. Metcalf helped develop a variety of important capital projects. She previously worked in traditional capital markets roles for 18 years at Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and Credit Suisse. She received her B.S. in Finance and Information Systems from Boston College and her MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. Appointed to the Royal Neighbors board in 2022, and elected to the board in 2023, she is chair of the investment committee and a member of the audit, and compensation committees.
Zarifa Brown Reynolds is the President and CEO of fraternal life insurance organization, Royal Neighbors of America, which is dedicated to insuring lives, supporting women, and serving communities. Zarifa is a mission-driven, transformational executive with a record of team building, talent development, and developing and executing strategies to profitably grow businesses.
Prior to joining Royal Neighbors in 2023, Zarifa was an executive at Guardian Life Insurance Company (Guardian) where she led a national sales, account management, and underwriting team.
Before joining Guardian, Zarifa was Head of Corporate Development at Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America (TIAA) where she was responsible for corporate mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance, strategic venture capital investing, and corporate strategic projects.
Prior to joining TIAA, Zarifa was a partner at Greenberg Traurig, an international law firm. Zarifa started her legal career at Shearman & Sterling in New York City.
Zarifa is a board member of American Council of Life Insurers (Forum 500), KIPP Miami, and the Harvard Law School Association of New York City. She holds a Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Brown University.
Married to Cedrick and mother of two children, Zarifa splits her time between the Quad Cities community and South Florida. She enjoys golf, tutoring children in math, and spending time with her family.
Janet Sichterman is a strategic business leader skilled in developing leaders and new business opportunities. As Executive Vice President at Kent Corporation, she is responsible for Enterprise Innovation. Her prior role at Kent was Senior Vice President for Human Resources and Communications. Ms. Sichterman previously held executive roles in North American sales, global human resources, and organizational development with Bandag, Incorporated. She received a Bachelor of Arts from Central College, and a Master of Business Administration, Master of Accounting, and Master of Organizational Leadership degrees from St. Ambrose University. Ms. Sichterman was an honoree for the Athena International Women’s Leadership Award in 2019. She currently serves on the St. Ambrose University Board of Trustees, and lift Women’s Foundation Board, and previously served on the Muscatine Art Center Foundation, Boards for UnityPoint Health -Trinity, Greater Muscatine Community Foundation, United Way, Red Cross, Leadership Muscatine, Junior Achievement, and many more. Elected to the Royal Neighbors board in 2020, she is chair of the compensation committee and is a member of the executive, governance and investment committees.
Shawn Wright serves as a partner in Blank Rome LLP’s White-Collar Defense & Litigation group and as co-chair of both the that provides comprehensive legal services to clients across various industries and sectors. She is a skilled litigator
who specializes in white-collar criminal defense, particularly in cases involving Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, international anti-bribery and anti-corruption laws, accounting and corporate fraud, public corruption, government contracts and complex
civil litigation matters. Ms. Wright represents corporations, boards of directors, and corporate executives in a wide range of internal and government investigations, audits and risk assessments, parallel proceedings, and complex commercial litigation.
She has extensive experience in dealing with enforcement agencies and regulators such as the U.S. Department of Justice, the Securities and Exchange Commission and other regulatory authorities. Additionally, Ms. Wright represents tax-exempt organizations,
regularly advising boards of directors on matters involving corporate governance, compliance, and internal controls issues. She also serves as outside general counsel for several nonprofit organizations.
Ms. Wright is actively involved various
organizations, nonprofits, and bar associations that support her professional and community interests. She serves on the board of the National Capital Bank of Washington, a community bank that provides financial services to local businesses and
individuals. She is also a board member of My Sister’s Place, a D.C. domestic violence shelter, The Economic Club of Washington, D.C., D.C. Legal Aid Society, National Association of Corporate Directors, Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics,
and Society of Corporate Secretaries and Governance Professionals. She is a member of the William Bryant Inn of Court and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Ms. Wright received her J.D. from Santa Clara University School of Law, and her B.A., cum laude,
from Howard University. Elected to the Royal Neighbors board in 2023, she is a member of the audit, compensation, and governance committees.
