Vikki L. Pryor

Chief Executive Officer Vikki L. Pryor was born on August 22, 1953, at the Great Lakes Naval Base in Illinois to Dorothy (Mary) Nesbitt Pryor and Karl Pryor. In 1975, Pryor received her B.A. degree in history, magna cum laude, and in 1978 her J.D. in history from the University at Buffalo, New York. In 1989, she received her M.B.A. degree in marketing and finance from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Pryor began her professional and business career in 1978 as an attorney, rising to acting assistant district counsel for the Office of Chief Counsel at the U.S. Department of the Treasury. In 1986, she joined Allstate Life Insurance Company, holding various management positions in corporate operations. In 1993, she joined Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts as General Auditor, and became senior vice president of Operations, later holding the same role at Oxford Health Plans in 1998. Beginning in 1999, Pryor served for more than eleven years as president and chief executive officer of SBLI USA Mutual Life Insurance Company, becoming the first African American woman to hold the position of President and CEO of a major U.S. life insurance company.
In the non-profit sector, Pryor served as president and chief executive officer of the American Red Cross of Greater New York from 2010 to 2011, Getting Out and Staying Out from 2022 to 2024, and Northside Center for Child Development, beginning in 2024. In 2010, she also launched the consulting firm Change Create Transform, LLC, serving as its managing principal and president of its affiliated Change Create Transform Foundation, focusing on educational advancement and career readiness for youth.

Pryor served on the board of directors of Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, Sagicor Life Insurance Company USA, NYISO, Keyspan, Riversource Funds, USTrust (Boston), the Federal Reserve Bank of New York Small Business Advisory Council, the Partnership for New York City, the American Council of Life Insurers Forum 500, the University at Buffalo Foundation and School Law Dean’s Advisory Council, Girls Scouts of the USA, and the Boys and Girls Club of Boston.
Pryor’s awards and honors include the Chancellor’s Award from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1996, a Distinguished Alumni Award from the University at Buffalo School of Law in 2002, a Doctor of Humane Letters Honoris Causa from Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut in 2004, a Distinguished Alumni Award from the University at Buffalo in 2009, a Doctor of Law Honoris Causa from the College of Mount Saint Vincent in the Bronx, New York in 2013, and a Dean’s Medal from the University at Buffalo School of Law in 2014.

She resides in Stamford, Connecticut with her husband. She has a son and two grandchildren.

Vikki L. Pryor was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on July 18, 2023.