Barbara G. Koster

WOS CIO Executive Council

Senior Vice President  & Chief Information Officer
Prudential Financial, Inc.

Barbara G. Koster is senior vice president and chief information officer at Prudential Financial. In this position, Koster oversees the use of information technology at all Prudential locations worldwide and ensures the privacy and integrity of Prudential’s information. She is responsible for formulating policies, establishing standards and architectures and developing guidelines and management practices. Koster also manages Prudential’s global networks and data centers and other technology infrastructure.

Koster joined Prudential in November 1995 as vice president, Policy Administration and MIS. In 2004, she was appointed chief information officer for Individual Life Insurance Systems, where she was responsible for a wide range of technologies, including those that support distribution, policy administration, customer relationship, call centers, service delivery, financial systems, information security, business continuation and architecture.

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

 In 2008, Koster was named CIO of the Year by the Executive Council and was listed among the top Executive Women of New Jersey. In prior years, she 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. In 1999, Koster received the Women in Science and Technology award from the Smithsonian Institute. She has been a featured speaker at dozens of national and international industry conferences.

Koster is the past chair of ACORD (a standards body for the life insurance industry); is chairman of the boards of Pramerica Systems Ireland, Ltd. and Prudential Systems Japan, Ltd., both technology subsidiaries of Prudential Financial; and a member of the Board of Trustees of Liberty Science Center in New Jersey and St. Francis College.

Koster graduated from St. Francis College with a BS degree in Business Administration and AS degrees in Computer Technology and Accounting.