Arlene Isaacs-Lowe immigrated from Jamaica at age 9 and attended prestigious NYC public schools. She studied accounting and finance, becoming a CPA and CFA. At MetLife, she managed institutional real estate portfolios before co-founding an investment advisory firm. She then had an over 20-year career at Moody’s in various leadership roles in credit ratings, strategy, and corporate responsibility. Since retiring in 2022, she has joined 3 corporate boards in finance, hospitality, and industry.
Isaacs-Lowe prepares for board service through Executive Leadership Council training on governance and “board readiness.” She aims to leverage her expertise in finance, global business, real estate, and ESG issues. However, she emphasizes understanding board culture and value alignment over specific domain knowledge. Her priority is advancing diversity, equity and inclusion from her board positions.
She believes structural changes like term limits are essential to meaningfully improving Black and minority representation. She advocates that boards embrace diversity as a business growth driver, not just a social cause. Her advice to aspirants: develop broad functional skills, build relationships with directors, contribute on emerging issues like ESG.
