John Strangfeld is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU), a financial services leader with operations in the United States, Asia, Europe, and Latin America.

With over 135 years of life insurance and asset management expertise, Prudential is focused on helping its 50 million individual and institutional customers grow and protect their wealth. Prudential’s businesses offer a variety of products and services, including life insurance, annuities, retirement-related services, mutual funds, and investment management.

In addition to its financial strength, Prudential has a strong reputation in social responsibility, and a long-standing commitment to diversity and workplace inclusion. In fact, FORTUNE magazine recently named Prudential one of the most admired companies in the world in the life/health insurance category.

Before Mr. Strangfeld was named Chairman and CEO in 2008, he was Vice Chairman responsible for Prudential’s U.S. Businesses, which include both the Investment and the Insurance Divisions. Prior to his position as Vice Chairman, Mr. Strangfeld held a variety of senior investment positions at Prudential Financial, both within the United States and abroad, including six years in London.

Mr. Strangfeld received a BS in Business Administration from Susquehanna University, and an MBA from the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia, where he is a member of the Raven Society, UVA’s oldest honorary society. Mr. Strangfeld also holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation.

Mr. Strangfeld is very involved with both of his alma maters. He is Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Susquehanna University and a member of the Board of Trustees of the Darden School Foundation. In 2005, Mr. Strangfeld initiated, and is an ongoing sponsor of, a recruitment and scholarship program for military officers seeking to transition into leadership roles in civilian life via an MBA at Darden. He is actively pursuing additional ways for Prudential and other corporations to support returning Veterans as they re-enter civilian life.

Mr. Strangfeld is a member of the Financial Services Forum, the Financial Services Roundtable, the Business Roundtable, the Geneva Association, and the American Council of Life Insurers. He is also a member of the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark, New Jersey.

Edward P. Baird is executive vice president and chief operating officer of Prudential's international businesses, which include Prudential's life insurance companies outside of the United States and Canada, as well as the company's in-country asset management activities, offshore funds, international securities, and futures business.

In his previous position as president of Prudential's Group Insurance business, Mr. Baird was responsible for Group Life and Disability Insurance, Group Nonqualified Benefit Funding programs, and Group and Individual Long Term Care Insurance. Prior to that, he held the position of chief representative of Prudential Investment Management, Inc., overseeing Prudential's Retail and Institutional Asset Management businesses in Japan.

Mr. Baird joined Prudential as a group sales manager in the Los Angeles Group Office in 1979. Since then, he has held a variety of positions within the organization. In 1990, he served as president of Pruco Life Insurance Company and Chairman of Pruco Securities, Inc., the broker/dealer responsible for annuities and variable life products. In 1991, he held the position of senior vice president for Agencies, Individual Insurance. In 1996, he served as senior vice president, sales and marketing, for Prudential Healthcare.

Mr. Baird holds a BA in Economics from Harvard University, an MBA from Columbia University, and a J.D. from Southwestern Law School.

Susan L. Blount is senior vice president and general counsel of Prudential Financial, Inc. and is responsible for overseeing the company's law, compliance, and business ethics organizations.

Ms. Blount joined Prudential's Law Department in 1985 as an attorney in the company's commercial real estate operations. During her career at Prudential, Ms. Blount has held a variety of leadership positions, including vice president and secretary for the company through the period of Prudential's demutualization in late 2001. Most recently, Ms. Blount served as vice president and chief investment counsel, overseeing the Investment Division legal teams.

Prior to joining Prudential, Ms. Blount was an associate at the law firm of Kirkland & Ellis.

She is a member of the Board of Trustees of Montclair State University and a member of the New Jersey Commission on Higher Education. She serves on the board of directors of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Institute for Legal Reform. Ms. Blount was recently appointed as chair of the Committee of Corporate General Counsel of the ABA's Section of Business Law.

Ms. Blount attended the University of Chicago. She graduated from The University of Texas at Austin with a B.A. in history and a J.D., with honors. She is a member of the bars of New Jersey and Illinois.

Richard J. Carbone is executive vice president and chief financial officer (CFO) of Prudential Financial, responsible for its treasury, controllership, tax, business line CFO functions, and M&A activity.

Mr. Carbone joined Prudential as CFO in July of 1997 and was elected executive vice president in 2008. Previously, he was the global controller of Salomon, Inc., and a managing director of Salomon Brothers, where he was responsible for all aspects of the controllership function, including pricing verification of securities inventory, and technology development for financial systems. He also served for a brief period as CFO of Salomon Brothers Europe, based in London.

Mr. Carbone was recruited by Salomon in May 1995 from Bankers Trust New York Corporation. At Bankers Trust, he was senior vice president and controller from 1988 to 1993. In 1993, he joined the Bankers Trust Individual Services Group as managing director, supervising the Brokerage, Banking, Trust, and Custody areas as well as Operations and Technology for the Private Banking Business.

He began his career at Price Waterhouse & Co. in 1976, and left to join E.F. Hutton Group, Inc. in 1981, where he rose to senior vice president and deputy controller.

Mr. Carbone received an MBA from St. John's University and is a Certified Public Accountant. He served as an officer in the United States Marine Corps from 1969 to 1972.

Mr. Carbone is a board member of The Group of North American Insurance Enterprises (GNAIE), where he served as chairman from April 2005 to April 2007, as well as a member of the International Accounting Standards Board Insurance Working Group. He's also a member of the CFO Executive Board, and is on the board of trustees for Mount Loretto Mission of the Immaculate Virgin for Homeless & Destitute Children.

Helen M. Galt was appointed senior vice president by Prudential's board of directors in October 2005. Ms. Galt was also named chief risk officer in 2007, responsible for the company's risk management infrastructure and processes to ensure they are appropriate and fully support Prudential's businesses. In addition, since 1993 Ms. Galt has served as Prudential's company actuary, overseeing all actuarial functions in Prudential, as well as responsibility for various product risk management and enterprise insurance program activities. She reports to the board on actuarial matters and she periodically leads projects designed to enhance the company's financial management practices and measures. Ms. Galt led several of the teams that implemented Prudential's demutualization in December 2001.

In her previous job, Ms. Galt served as president of Prudential's wholly owned subsidiaries, Pruco Life and Pruco Life of N.J. As head of Pruco, she was responsible for the staff who managed the company's variable and interest sensitive life products and all individual annuity products. Prior to that assignment, she was vice president and associate actuary in the Actuarial and Product Development (APD) department in Newark, N.J. In APD, Ms. Galt had responsibility for product development and pricing for the portfolio of participating life insurance products.

Earlier in her career, Ms. Galt had assignments in the Common Stock, Group Insurance, and Individual Pensions areas, as well as in the Individual Insurance Systems and Administration Department. In the latter job, she was responsible for actuarial, sales illustrations, and new business systems, as well as a team which reviewed the company's Field Office automation needs.

Ms. Galt obtained her B.A. degree from Douglass College in 1969, and earned her M.S. at Rutgers in 1970. She became a fellow in the Society of Actuaries in 1976 and a member of the American Academy of Actuaries in 1979.

Mark B. Grier, a member of Prudential Financial's Office of the Chairman and of its board of directors, oversees Finance, Risk Management, Investor Relations, Global Business and Technology Solutions, Auditing, External Affairs, and Global Marketing Communications. In addition, Mr. Grier leads Global Strategic Initiatives, which focuses on priorities such as Prudential's international retirement and China strategies.

Mr. Grier joined Prudential as chief financial officer (CFO) in May 1995, with responsibility for oversight of treasury, comptrollership, tax, and business line CFO functions. In 2002, he was named vice chairman, with responsibility for Financial Management, a department consisting of Investor Relations, Finance, Corporate Actuarial, Asset Liability and Risk Management, and External Affairs.

Before joining Prudential, Mr. Grier was co-head of Chase Global Markets and an executive vice president of The Chase Manhattan Bank, N.A. In 1987, he was named Individual Banking Financial Management executive for The Chase Manhattan Corporation's Retail Banking businesses. He was also previously responsible for Chase's Business Policy, Asset Management, and Financial Control and Analysis Divisions.

In 1983, Mr. Grier served as senior vice president of Lincoln First Bank, N. A., a forerunner of Chase Lincoln First Bank, N.A. He also served as Global Risk Management executive and treasurer of the bank and its parent company, Lincoln First Banks, Inc. In 1981, Mr. Grier assumed the position of economic and financial policy manager for the bank. He continued in these positions after The Chase Manhattan Corporation acquired Lincoln First in July 1984. Mr. Grier began his career at Lincoln First in 1978 as an economic analyst.

Mr. Grier was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He attended Eastern Illinois University where he received a B.A. and an M.A. in economics. Mr. Grier also earned an M.B.A. in finance and corporate accounting from The University of Rochester.

Barbara G. Koster is senior vice president and chief information officer for Prudential Financial, head of Global Business and Technology Solutions and a member of Prudential’s Senior Management Committee. She has oversight responsibility for information technology at all Prudential locations worldwide and ensures the privacy and integrity of Prudential’s information. She formulates policies, establishes standards and architectures and develops guidelines and management practices. She also manages the company’s global networks and data centers and other technology infrastructure.

In addition, Ms. Koster is chairman of the boards of Pramerica Systems Ireland, Ltd. and Prudential Systems Japan, Ltd., both technology subsidiaries of Prudential Financial.

Ms. Koster joined Prudential in November 1995 as vice president and chief information officer in Individual Life Insurance Systems where she was responsible for a wide range of technologies, including those that support distribution, policy administration, customer relationship, business strategy, call centers, service delivery, financial systems, information security, business continuation and architecture.

Prior to joining Prudential, Ms. Koster held several positions with Chase Manhattan Bank, including that of president of Chase Access Services.

In 2011, NJ Biz newspaper named Ms. Koster one of the “Fifty Best Women in Business.” She was named CIO of the Year in 2008 by the Executive Council and listed among the top Executive Women of New Jersey. She also has been named among the Premier IT Leaders by Computerworld magazine; the Top Twenty Financial Management Technologists by the CIO Forum; and the Elite Eight by Insurance & Technology magazine. Ms. Koster received the 1999 Women in Science and Technology award from the Smithsonian Institute. She has been a featured speaker at dozens of national and international industry conferences.

Ms. Koster is a member and past chair of ACORD (a standards body for the life insurance industry) and currently serves on the boards of trustees of Liberty Science Center in New Jersey and St. Francis College. She also is a member of Executive Women in NJ and Research Board, an international think tank.

Ms. Koster has a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration and an Associate of Science degree in computer technology from St. Francis College.

Charles F. Lowrey is executive vice president and chief operating officer of Prudential's U.S.-based businesses, comprising Prudential Investment Management, Prudential Retirement, Prudential Annuities, Individual Life Insurance and Group Insurance, which together had approximately $700 billion in assets under management as of December 31, 2010. Lowrey is also responsible for Prudential's Real Estate and Relocation Services business.

Before he assumed his current role, Lowrey was president and chief executive officer of Prudential Investment Management, Prudential Financial's asset management business. Previously, he was chief executive officer of Prudential Real Estate Investors. He joined the company in March 2001.

Before joining Prudential, Lowrey was a managing director and head of the Americas for J.P. Morgan's Real Estate and Lodging Investment Banking group, where he began his investment banking career in 1988.

Before joining J.P. Morgan, Lowrey spent four years as a managing partner of an architecture and development firm he founded in New York City. During this time, he became a registered New York architect.

Lowrey received an MBA degree from Harvard University, an MA degree in architecture from Yale University, and an AB degree in architecture from Princeton University.

Sharon C. Taylor is senior vice president, Human Resources, chair of The Prudential Foundation, and a member of Prudential's Senior Management Committee. Ms. Taylor is the top human resources (HR) officer reporting to the chairman and is accountable for HR policies, strategies, programs, and infrastructure that support Prudential's domestic and international businesses.

She chairs several key committees, such as the Human Resources Policy Committee and the Investment Oversight Committee. She is also accountable for Community Resources, which includes oversight of The Prudential Foundation, and the company's social investments, local initiative, and business diversity programs.

Prior to Ms. Taylor's current appointment, she served as corporate vice president, Human Resources, accountable for leading Human Resources' 13 centers of excellence. Ms. Taylor's tenure in this role was marked by improved operating efficiency, customer services and significantly reduced expenses. She has also served as corporate vice president, Human Resources, and ethics officer for Prudential's domestic insurance group and vice president, Human Resources, for Prudential Financial's Operations and Systems group.

Ms. Taylor has held leadership roles in Prudential Financial's Minority Interchange and is a founding member of the company's Black Leadership Forum. She serves as chair of the Human Resources Outsourcing Association and the Newark Regional Business Partnership, and also sits on the boards of the American Repertory Ballet, the Human Resources Policy Association, and the advisory board of the National Council of LaRaza. Ms. Taylor has received numerous awards for her high level of both business success and community service.

Ms. Taylor is a magna cum laude graduate from Temple University, where she earned a BA degree in foreign languages.