Michele Santana

Michele Santana is the current Chair at Akron Zoo. Prior to this, they were the Chief Financial Officer at Majestic Steel USA from December 2019 to January 2022. Michele was also the Chief Financial Officer at TransDigm Group Inc. and Signet Jewelers.

At Signet Jewelers, they led global finance operations including a $1.8B in-house credit portfolio. Michele was also responsible for accounting, financial reporting, tax, treasury, internal audit, investor relations, budgeting, forecasting, capital structure and allocation, working capital, debt compliance, currency and commodity-hedging. Michele was a key representative at all Board, Audit, CSR, and Compensation Committee meetings. As Principal Financial Officer, they were responsible for all compliance, correspondence, and oversight of US GAAP accounting policies, filing requirements, and local country reporting. Michele was also a member of executive, omni-channel, real estate, capital investments, treasury, and budget review committees.

During their time at Signet Jewelers, they orchestrated strategic acquisitions, negotiations, financing, and integrations that immediately increased North America’s market share and revenue. Michele also spearheaded the strategic initiative to raise $625M in private equity capital. In addition, they formulated a 3-year transformation plan and was the executive sponsor and influencer for Information Technology strategy re-platforming finance to SAP. Michele also collaborated with HR to design short-term and long-term incentive compensation plans

Michele Santana has a Bachelor of Arts in Accounting and Finance from Baldwin Wallace University. Michele is also certified from the Accountancy Board of Ohio as an Ohio Certified Public Accountant, which they have been since 1996.