An experienced public and private company executive, CEO and board member, Christa Steele has led $500M - $1B organizations with proven success improving business results of under-performing teams. She brings the ability to develop long-term strategies as well as focus on tactical execution, and extensive experience managing complex organizations and situations. Industry experience includes technology, financial services, equipment leasing and transportation, food and agriculture, commercial and residential real estate, and resource recovery and waste management. A trusted financial and governance expert, Christa has served twice as CEO, and on nine public and private company boards, serving as Board Chair, and Chair of Audit, and Compensation Committees. Christa is well versed in Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) strategies that address the reporting needs of organizations. Christa is a nationally recognized speaker and thought leader in digital transformation competencies ( Metaverse, Web3, Blockchain) keeping pace with the latest technological advancements and threats, identifying transformation needs and creating a roadmap to ensure ongoing progress. She completed her CERT in Cybersecurity Oversight from the Software Engineering Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. Christa offers 25 years’ experience in recurring revenue model (RMR), general management, operations and risk oversight with a collaborative management style enabling cross-functional teamwork and business results. Christa is twice named by the San Francisco Business Times, in 2022 and 2015, as one of “The Most Influential Women in Bay Area Business,” and as a “North America Top 50 Private Directors to Watch” in 2019 by Private Company Director Magazine. In 2020, Christa joined Balco Holdings, Inc. as an Independent Board Director and served on the finance and compensation committees. Balco was the holding company for Bay Alarm, Bay Alarm Medical, and Balco Properties companies, with revenues of $290+ million and over 1200 employees. In early 2022, Christa was selected by the board to be Interim CEO, and she held this role until the completion of the division and dissolution of holding company assets at year end 2022. Prior to Balco, Christa was President and CEO of Mechanics Bank (OTC: MCHB) from 2013-2015, where she led the improvement of core earnings 43% in a single calendar year, doubled the bank’s stock price in less than two years, and successfully led its sale for a premium in 2015. Current board roles, include serving as Compensation Committee Chair and on the Audit Committee of Tanimura & Antle, a large private, family-owned California agricultural food grower based in Salinas, and as Board Vice Chairman and Board Leadership Fellow for the Northern California Chapter of the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD). She served as a paid consultant to small and mid-cap companies for digital transformation, governance and ESG strategies. Prior board experience include Balco Holdings, Inc; Recology, an ESOP company and integrated resource/waste management company headquartered in San Francisco; Brainchip Holdings (ASX: BRN), the world’s first producer of neuromorphic IP and coined the next semiconductor disruptor for AI edge headquartered in Australia with operations in California; OFG Bancorp, (NYSE; OFG), a $10 billion retail and commercial bank with operations in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands; Sasser Family Holdings, an international rail company based in Chicago; FIG Partners, an Atlanta based boutique investment bank which was sold to Janney Montgomery Scott in 2019 ; and as Inside Director for Mechanics Bank (OTC: MCHB), a $3.5 billion asset bank based in the San Francisco Bay Area which sold in 2015. Christa holds an MBA from The Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California, and an undergraduate degree from California State University Sacramento. She and her husband live in the greater San Francisco Bay Area and have two young adult children. Christa is an avid golfer and athlete, and a strong believer in servant leadership.